Magpie & Arson
by moonandpaw
Summary: Let's be honest, how hard could it be to deal with one little demonic curse? Join as the Marauders answer that question firsthand, learn more about dark magic than they ever cared to do, and vow to save the little Ravenclaw Moony should have asked out ages ago.
1. Beginnings

Author's Note: Well, hello, and welcome to the story. A little background on this: I was cleaning out an old hard drive and found this story, well over 10 years old, which I had forgotten. I re-read it and found it decently entertaining, and decided I was going to upload it, so that all of you can cringe at my past writing skills. I discovered that my grammar was pretty good in the olden days, and that my humor was just as dark and twisted as it is today, except I lacked appropriate filters to make it unknown to the rest of the world. There will be some trigger warnings in future chapters, so be aware (I was en _edgy_ little blighter). Obviously, I do not own anything from the HP universe. All I can claim is my OC. This disclaimer extends to all following chapters.

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The second day of the new school term at Hogwarts' School of Witchcraft and Wizardry dragged along with a familiar enthusiasm. The term had been a Thursday, rainy and dreary, nut the first official day of school, Friday, had opened with a clear, sterling sky and fair winds. Most of the Quidditch-enthusiasts wanted nothing more than to zoom around the pitch while a handful sat around the lake and soaked up the sun, or watched the others fly around the pitch. Remus Lupin was one of these on-lookers. Now in his seventh year, he and his friends had developed a sort of ritual for the first Friday of the new term. As usual, he had stridden onto the Quidditch pitch with a casual pace, a book clutched in his hand in case the game dragged on a little longer than he was willing to entertain.

Tossing his book down, he plopped onto the cool, damp grass, opting to recline back with his robes folded as a pillow under his head, unruly sandy blond curls fanning out around his head. The benches at the pitch were terribly uncomfortable, and the position he was in made it feel like he was participating in the action. It wasn't that Remus was a bad flyer, or even a bad player (James still rants about the pick-up game of '75, and how Remus single-handedly turned the game around when they were down nearly a hundred points before the snitch was caught), he guessed he just appreciated his friends' enthusiasm and skill and endeavored to commit it to memory. It was a matter of time, however, until the first squabble between players erupted, and the screaming matches began.

 _I wonder what it is this time_ , he thought, rolling his eyes at their absurdity, before sitting up and squinting his eyes at the figures 15m above. Right before he pinpointed the exact location of the voices, there was a flash of blinding light, the sensation of falling into a void and then, darkness.

A gentle shake rocked his body over and over and the young wizard wondered if that was what death felt like. "Remus!" The voice sounded distant, as if underwater or in a dream. A sudden urge to open his eyes overcame him, and he slowly lifted the long-lashed, seemingly heavy veils that covered honey-colored eyes. Warm, white light flooded his vision. He knew he had died; he was certain he was in heaven, for the musical voice he was hearing must have been an angel, and it was speaking in tongues. He could only make out the silhouette of a delicate body, drowning in a navy and bronze robe, its wings carefully folded behind them. Yes, this was heaven. A flash of darkness haunted him for a second, and along with it, a whirlpool of sensations he identified as pain. Death wasn't supposed to hurt, was it?

"Heaven isn't supposed to be painful," he grumbled. "I _knew_ all that cussing would get me landed in Hell."

It took him a moment to realize that he was, a) not dead and, b) not in any sort of afterlife. The warm, bright, inviting light was the sun overhead, his head was throbbing in pain from both looking at the sun and another unknown condition. He was still at the pitch, he recognized. His eyes moved slowly over to the figure, the angel. The angel was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Raven black hair, brilliant jade green eyes, alabaster skin, perfect, chiseled features. For some reason he felt he knew those eyes; they seemed so familiar. His own eyes noted something further –angels didn't have black wings. Neither did people, for that matter.

A moment of realization came over him as the thick, groggy veil lifted from his mind. The figure was doubled over on their knees not far from him, tears leaving tracks upon porcelain cheeks. The mystic tongues he thought he had heard were no more than plain English, strangled by sobs; the angelic robes were Ravenclaw house Quidditch gear. This was no angel. Then, what was it?

" _Oi_ , Lively! I thought you were trying to lay low. Killing Moony isn't exactly the way to do it, now, is it?" Remus recognized Sirius' velvety voice as it drew nearer.

"Shut up, Black! It's your fault that bludger hit him and not you, wanker!" The angel spat back, quite colorfully. The werewolf would have laughed if he didn't think it would aggravate his concussion.

"It's not my fault the Ravenclaw Quidditch team has to count with so little talent on your part," he replied, with a boyish grin.

" _Lively_?" Remus asked dazedly, a little slow on the conversation. He stared blankly as the angel looked up to meet his gaze. The eyes were the same, but the rest of her was so foreign to him. So different. "Gabs?"

The young woman was shaking like a leaf in her Quidditch gear, broomstick abandoned a few meters away as she had rushed to his side after the incident. She was hugging herself tightly, seemingly confused as to what she was meant to do at the moment. Before Remus had the presence of mind to ask a follow up question, she stood and ran, leaving her broom abandoned, back to the castle. His warm gaze struggled to follow her as James and Sirius sunk down on one knee at either side of him.

He winced and groaned as James expertly poked and prodded at his friend, effectively becoming a mother hen. "Are you all right, mate?" The concern was clearly etched in his voice.

Remus nodded blankly, staring at the space that Gabriela used to occupy a second before. "What happened?"

"Well, you know Padfoot can't keep his mouth shut to save his life and Gabs has a short temper. He was having a laugh about the new _accessories_ , she knocked a bludger at him, but the wanker ducked, and it completely mangled you."

"I meant, with Gabriela. I haven't just oblivious for the last six years and missed a rudding great pair of wings on her back, have I?" His tone was more clipped than he would have liked, but the pounding in his head was growing stronger by the second.

James glanced up at Sirius, who had fallen uncharacteristically quiet, seemingly guilty about the whole ordeal. He had only meant it as a light-hearted joke to make the girl feel better. It had tragically backfired (which, coincidentally, should be the name of Sirius' autobiography). The bespectacled boy faltered for a moment. He had known the Ravenclaw since her family had moved in next door when they were about two years old. They'd been friends ever since. He struggled to find words that didn't sound like they were ripped out of a fantasy novel. "Well, it happened on her birthday," he finally started. "We woke up because she was screaming bloody murder, and we went to see what was wrong, Pads, Mum, and I. She just woke up like that. Her dad hoped it wouldn't happen. Her mum had been cursed when she was still in the womb, something about paying for her wrongdoings by condemning her child to the existence of a demon. Padfoot and I weren't allowed to stay for the rest of the conversation."

The injured Gryffindor hesitated. "Aren't demons supposed to be, y'know, ugly?" His cheeks reddened at the question. He would willingly admit that he had never thought that Gabriela Lively was anything but a bombshell, but there was something about the ethereal glow that was actually invading his thoughts.

Sirius snorted. "That's your question? _Really_?"

James quickly interjected. "She wasn't screaming because she suddenly woke up with dark hair and wings. She was screaming because she set her room on fire turning off her alarm clock."


	2. Noisy Thoughts

**TRIGGER WARNING:** This chapter contains themes of suicide. If you are sensitive to such topics, please do not read.

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Madame Pomfrey had Remus mended and sent to the common room before any of them could say "Quidditch". He sat in the common room, alone, since his three friends had gotten themselves landed into detention in the short time he was out of commission, resting. The Marauders map sat balanced on his knees, and he opened and closed folds, searching through every nook and cranny for a sign of Gabriela. It had been a fruitless endeavor. It was almost as if she had vanished off the surface of the Earth. In a huff, he stood from his spot in the cushy armchair, and shuffled out of the portrait hole. At a certain point, he thought he had gone mad. Had he even seen Gabriela today? Did she even exist? Was their map _faulty_?

"I swear to everything good and holy that if you think of me one more time, I will scream!" The voice made him start in sheer terror. The corridor had been seemingly empty, both by visual and map accounts. Curiously, he peered out of one of the tower embrasures, finding the otherworldly figure sitting so still he could have sworn it was a statue.

He slowly walked to the window, acting like she was a frightened animal intent on being left alone. "How did you know I was looking for you?" His voice was low and quiet, the echo of the hall aiding him in delivering his message.

"I can hear your thoughts from a bloody mile away. It gets annoying when you find yourself the center of someone's thoughts." Her voice held no emotion, it was simply there. Her expression was blank, overall, but tears were streaming down her cheeks in an unrelenting pace.

"You can hear my thoughts?" he asked, honestly curious.

She shook her head minutely, obsidian hair shaking in the breeze. "Not exactly. I can only hear people calling out for me in their thoughts. Like when you remind yourself to talk to so-an-so about homework, or a book. That moment, it sort of _lights_ in my head." With small hands, she roughly wiped at the tears on her cheeks and took a shaky breath. "I thought that, like normal people, you'd stop searching after an hour, but you are so _fucking_ stubborn."

Remus furrowed his brow slightly. He had never heard Gabriela swear, not even the time she broke both her legs during a particularly brutal Quidditch game. He smiled warmly after the shock set in and dutifully took a step towards her, to close the space between them, but at the moment he lifted his leg, her head snapped towards him and she held her hands, palms facing him, up. "Don't come any closer, Remus. Please. I don't want to hurt you again."

He froze in place, not sure if by his own volition or hers, but he did. "Gabs, it was an accident. You were trying to hit Sirius and you hit me. It's not the first time that has happened. It was an accident."

Gabriela let a fresh sob tear at her throat as she broke down in tears again. "You don't understand, Remus!"

His eyes rolled in sync with the sigh escaping his lips. "Accidents happen, Gabby."

"Remus, you were—," she tried to interrupt, in vain.

"Unconscious, but I'm fine now. You've got to lighten up on yourself."

"But Remus—"

"I'm serious, Gabs. Stop blaming yourself, you—"

"YOU WERE DEAD, REMUS!" she yelled with all her might, no longer content with being cut off.

If there was any way for his eyebrows to permanently disappear into his hairline, Remus was sure that this was it. Although he could _feel_ the look of utter shock etched onto his face, he couldn't fix it for the life of him. "Well, that's… something else." He tilted his head to the side, trying to mull the sentence over in his mind and managed to lower one eyebrow. "When you say _'dead'_ , what exactly do you mean?"

"What the blood hell would I mean? Dead. Not living. Checked out. Kicked the bucket. Went towards the white light. Time was up. Gone with the wind. Went to meet your maker. Snuffed out—"

" _Alright_ ; alright! I get it." He pondered for a moment and then chuckled, clearly thinking the idea was absurd. "Oh, come off it! I wasn't dead. I couldn't have been out for more than a couple of minutes."

Gabriela had swung around, stepping into the castle from the cool night air on the windowsill, forcing Remus to take a step back to avoid a collision. "Remus, I sat next to you, screaming your name for fifteen minutes. I didn't dare touch you! Your heart had _stopped_."

"I'm still here, Gabs. Are you sure you're not overreacting?

"Don't you dare tell me that I was overreacting! You were starting to go _cold_ and I touched you and you gasped back to life. Remus you were dead!"

"What did the guys do?"

"They didn't know!"

"Why not? You didn't tell them?" Gabriela shook her head 'no'. "What if I had not woken. Wouldn't you have said something? I was dead, I would expect _SOMEONE_ to be sad."

"Thank you for concentrating on the important matter, Remus." She said sarcastically, anger dripping from her words.

"I was—" He was cut off by a ball of fire whistling past his ear. His eyes traveled the trajectory back to its source to find his friend was now spilling an eerie glow, her eyes growing an unearthly shade of black.

His emotions, which had already been all over the place a few minutes prior, were now completely erratic, bordering on maniacal. There was an emotion bubbling within him that rose with her dark energy, before he watched her seemingly catch herself, and force down whatever unknown magic she was spilling into the atmosphere. Her eyes returned to normal, though she turned away from him, her crying resuming. "I'm sorry." She whispered as she backed onto the opposite wall and sliding down, her knees giving out from under her. "I'm so sorry." Her voice broke.

Remus was stock-still, but his eyes followed her with caution. She saw as she lifted her hands to her head and covered her ears, muttering incoherently under her breath. It was another minute before thought caught up with him again and his head was swimming in thoughts that fleeted past before he could grasp them.

"You're doing it again," she whimpered hopelessly, as she clutched her head.

"What?" His mouth struggled to form the simple word.

"Stop thinking about me! Please, stop it!" she wailed painfully.

"I can't help it. I'm sorry," he whispered, his mouth dry. At the same time, he tried to shake the thoughts of her from his head. He watched, feebly, as she slowly released her ears, following an invisible line to the window and staring at it in thought.

With inhuman speed and grace, she stood, and bolted for the open embrasure. It was a second later that Remus realized her intent, and with his own quick reflexes, grabbed her tightly around the waist and yanked her away from the window ledge. She fought against his grip with little success, her cries a brittle sound in the cold night air. Gabriela clutched for the raised edges with outstretched hands, never quite finding purchase, while the young werewolf held her so tightly that feathers jabbed painfully into his chest.

The only thing he could think to do was pull her back with a growl, grasping her by the shoulders, before she gave her a violent shake. When the winged woman tried to slip away, he regained a grip, shoving back into the stone wall far harder than he ever thought he should to hold her tiny frame back, and pinned her in place. "Stop struggling or, so help me God—" The threat died on his lips as she cried pathetically, their scuffle continuing. Within him he could feel the wolf getting restless, and he growled lowly, resisting the urge to let go of his friend's steadily warming limbs. The small girl managed to push him so hard he tripped a few feet back, giving her space to maneuver. With one last attempt at control, he heaved a great push, either of his hands holding onto her wrists. He grimaced when he heard her left wrist cracked, and she shrieked, immediately going slack in his arms. He hugged her to his chest, panting desperately as his vision blurred with tears. "I'm sorry, but I just—I can't let you do this. As long as I am in this castle, you will live. I don't care if I have to switch classes, change my schedule, follow your every move—become your shadow. I will not let you do this," he whispered into her ear.

Her face burrowed into his jumper, and quickly began dampening with tears. "I want to die," she sobbed, her teeth clenched in pain.

"You will; of old age, in a cottage in the forest. Just not now; not today." His heart broke when he saw her hold her arm away from her body and his, to avoid hurting it further. "I'm sorry, Gabby. I'm sorry, but I had to hold you back somehow." The tears were now threatening to leave his eyes and they spilled over when he saw her nod submissively at his words. Somehow, he knew that she was aware that he was right; that he only wanted to protect her.

Her legs wobbled as they took a few tentative steps down the hall. Uncertain that her legs could carry her anywhere relevant, Remus scooped her up in his arms and silently carried her to Gryffindor tower. The Fat Lady was asleep when they arrived. He had knocked on her frame with his foot startling her awake, the painting, then, taking them in with suspicion. "You're not supposed to bring people from other Houses here," she commented when he told her the password.

"Just mind your fucking business and open the door." Remus spat venomously, and the portrait door swung open.

The warmth of the common room greeted the pair with its familiar glow. Although he loved his lion-kin, Remus did seem to detest their need to try and ascertain what situation has gone on the second someone steps into the common room. For right now, all he wanted was to get Gabriela upstairs, and not answer the million and one iterations of the question ' _what happened?_ '.

After a curt response of, "Not now", he took the stairs to the dorms by twos, Peter hot on his heels, ready to lend a hand. He opened the door for Remus, letting him settle Gabby on a bed while he collected duvets and pillows from all the other beds to form a makeshift cot on the floor beside his four-poster.

"Thank you, Peter." Remus said sincerely, a small smile of appreciation on his face. His friend merely shrugged and nodded, as if what he was doing was simply the obvious thing to do. He also noticed that tucked against his bed was Gabriela's broom, clearly brought up by Peter when they had left the Quidditch pitch earlier. With great appreciation for the friends the Universe had blessed him with, he turned back to Gabriela, who was currently crushing his pillow to her body as if it was her lifeline. "May I see your hand, please?" He had taken a knee at her feet, and his hand remained open, palm up, until, with great reluctance, she offered her arm to him.

"This may hurt a little bit, Gabs. OK?"

She nodded her consent as he set off to wrap his long fingers around her wrist one more time and squeezing, his other waving his wand in an intricate pattern just above her skin. The bones clicked into place, not without giving her a good dose of pain. She whimpered in a high-pitched squeal and not a moment later, there was a bandage on her arm, the bones now magically adhered.

"There we go." He placed her hand on her lap before he scooted back, looking at the way she gripped his pillow so tightly that he could see the tension in the muscles of her arms. His expression turned into one of guilt. Remus let out a dry sob and let his head fall to his hands. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, his conscience was eating him alive. "Gabs, I really didn't mean to hurt you, but you were going to… Oh, Merlin…" The only thing that warned him of her actions was the faint creak of his four-poster bed, but, soon enough, she had her arms around him, her fingers clinging onto the fabric of his jumper. Her touch still burned, but Remus gladly accepted the hug, and tentatively bent his neck down to press his lips to her crown. He was just damn glad they hadn't lost her.

Regaining his composure, he slowly peeled her arms off him, turning to open his trunk rummage for a change of clothes for her. "I don't reckon you want to sleep in your Quidditch gear, do you?" Delicately, she took the gray tee and plaid bottoms, but made no effort to move. Her recent meltdown had made her unsure of herself and didn't even know if she was trustworthy enough to go to the bathroom to change on her own. It was not twenty feet away, but she couldn't will her feet to move.

"I think I would notice if you took a suspiciously long time in there. I'll be just outside if you need me, I promise."

A small smirk of amusement appeared on her face, but she still made no effort to move. Remus sighed and offered his hand and when she took it he literally dragged her to the bathroom, closing the door behind her. A few minutes later she knocked from inside. Remus opened the door to reveal a fully changed Gabriela. The shirt, which was quite snug on his own body, was dwarfing her small frame, and the bottoms, it seemed, even at their tightest fitting, still slung low on her hips and dragged comically at her feet. And though it all seemed roomy, she still shifted uncomfortably. A light flicked on in Remus' head. _She has wings now, Moony_ , he scolded himself mentally. "Turn around, Gabby." She turned and with a few flicks of a wand, she pushed her wings out of two slits in the material. "I forgot you had those."

She scoffed, not at him, but at herself. "That makes one of us." She muttered darkly.

"She speaks!" He tried to lighten the insidiously tense mood. "How angry are you with me?" His cheeks were candy apple red, and his face contorted sadly.

"I'm not. It's weird. I didn't feel the bones break. I screamed because it just _felt_ like I should. It was a reflex. I was just numb." She sighed. " I could never be mad at you, Remus. You were just doing what was right. Stupid Gryffindor."

The room was already filled as the rest of the Marauders and Frank Longbottom, a fellow seventh year Gryffindor, decided it was time to turn in. "Go with Pads, Worm, and Prongs. I'll be there in a moment." Remus whispered to Gabriela, slipping behind her to get into the bathroom. He closed the door, momentarily resting his head against the wood, anxious. Marching to the sink, he followed through his night ablutions, taking a few extra minutes to splash water on her face. He stared at his reflection at the mirror. He looked haggard, broken, stressed. His hair was a mess, his eyes were puffy, and the stubble on his face made him look unkempt. It had finally begun to sink in, this decision he had made without him even being aware of it. Remus had just decided to take responsibility for Gabriela's life, to help with what he could to make her life seem more bearable, more normal. But how could he do that when his own life left a lot to be desired? He was a kid, what did he know of life? Would he fuck her up? He had to hope he wouldn't, he decided.

Confused and angry at himself for the odds he was now playing at her expense, he peeled off his robes, muttering dark oaths under his breath. He stepped into his pajama bottoms and tugged on a t-shirt with little poise. When he rejoined the dorm, he was surprised to see Gabriela chatting animatedly with the rest of the occupants, who were circled around her bed as Sirius, of all people, was busy tucking her into bed. What surprised him most was a weary, old teddy bear that she was now clutching along with his pillow. _Mr. Teddington_ , he thought, sure that all color had left his face.

"Remus, Gabriela found a friend to share the bed with." Sirius announced happily, a knowing smirk nonchalantly gracing his lips.

"Where did you find that?" His voice trembled slightly.

"It was in your trunk, hidden under that box full of _interesting_ magazines." James replied, trying to contain a snicker and failing miserably.

Remus desperately looked from the boys to Gabriela and back and decided that this was one argument that he was going to lose. "Well, at least I keep _mine_ well hidden. And _no_ , Padfoot, people do not appreciate you 'enjoying' your magazines while they are still in the room." He finished with a shudder.

"Ew, gross." Gabriela cringed at the comment, while Sirius carefully disarrayed air fell.

" _Excuse_ me, I just happen to—" Sirius began, but was abruptly cut off by James.

"No one wants to know. The conversation is over. How about we let Gabby sleep?"

The other assented quickly, Sirius looking like he had been cheated of the opportunity to redeem himself, while they all crawled into their beds, pulling the curtains closed around their four posters.

"Are you all right?" Remus asked quietly, sitting on the edge of the bed, facing her. He took her nod as a positive response and smiled at her. "Well, I'll be right here if you need me." He pointed towards the pile of comforters next to the bed before he closed the three out of the four curtains. "Goodnight, Gabby." The torches in the room all dimmed, leaving it in relative darkness.

"Remus?" Her voice was small and quivering in the dead silence of the room. Remus turned back towards her with a curious expression.

"Yeah, doll?"

She hesitated for a moment, wringing her hands nervously while she pondered something. "Remus, do you mind… _er_ …sleeping up here w-with me?" By the end of her question she was staring blankly at the crisp gold and scarlet bed sheets that engulfed her small body.

If it weren't for the lack of light, Remus was sure that Gabriela would have seen his face burn a bright red at her question. Remus' parents had raised a good, if ridiculously repressed, child. Though he was still a teenager, he was uncomfortable to even consider sleeping in such close proximity to a girl when they were bound by nothing more than a friendship. " _Why_?" he asked before he could stop himself. "I mean, is there any particular reason that you need me there? I'm no more than a few feet away. I… er…"

Gabriela looked more embarrassed than Remus felt. It had not been easy to bring herself to ask the question and Remus' reaction was not everything that she had feared. "I just don't want to be alone, but if makes you uncomfortable, just forget I asked."

"Would you feel better if I did?" He kept replaying the wailing shriek and the crack of her wrist in his head, his own brain not letting him get any leeway on the situation just because he was _uncomfortable_. If she wanted him to sleep up with her, it should have been no question. At the moment it was most literally the _least_ he could do.

"A little."

Remus gulped and nodded. With shaking hands, he pulled back one side of the covers and climbed into his bed. Gabriela curled into a ball, resting her head against his chest and closing her eyes while a very much distressed Remus lay tauter than a bowstring, with no inclination of wanting to relax before he closed his eyes and dozed off.


	3. Trust Issues

**TRIGGER WARNING:** This chapter contains themes of suicide. If you are sensitive to such topics, please do not read.

The morning light trickled through the scarlet curtains warming Remus face. The morning was greeting him, and he couldn't be more pleased that the sun was up. He had barely slept last night, trying to make sure not to move during the night, that nothing other than her head on his chest touched. He avoided her sleep-twitching limbs as if they were the black plague. But when he woke up, he knew something was different. He couldn't feel the light pressure on his chest or her over-exceeding warmth. His eyes snapped open and glanced next to him to see that the bed was empty. His stretched his back until he heard a satisfying click from each of his vertebrae and jumped off the bed. No one else was in the dorm, save for the sleeping forms of James and Sirius, and a feeling of dread began to gnaw at his chest.

"Gabs! _Gabby!_ ", he hissed at the silence, searching high and low for her.

It was several high-pitched screams that got his attention. By chance, he looked at the tower window and saw the curtain fluttering in the wind that blew through the open hole. Remus ran to the window and leaned over. Sure enough, Gabriela was perched on the edge of the small landing, looking like a real-life gargoyle adorning the building and several girls were in the courtyard hoping that she would not do what he dreaded she would.

" _Shit,_ " he muttered as he struggled to forge a plan in his head. "Padfoot, Prongs, give me a little help here!" He yelled. His two mates groggily got out of their beds and walked to where Remus was standing. In an instant, they were awake, and James was scrambling through the window towards the ledge.

"Gabby, _get the hell back in here_!" James yelled viciously.

"I can hold my breath for over forty minutes." She said as if she had not heard him. "And the cuts, they healed just like _that_." She snapped her fingers for effect. "Maybe this will work."

"Gabriela Riana Victoria Lively, get into this room _right now_!"

"James, keep her there, no matter what." Remus said urgently as he rushed out the door. Remus took each and every detour he knew and made it out of the oak doors in record time, even though his still-stiff limbs were screaming for rest. His long legs carried him quickly to the courtyard and broke through the ever-growing crowd. Sirius was now trying to grab Gabriela, while James kept him in balance, so he wouldn't tumble down towards the earth. Just as Sirius was about to take another swipe at her, she tip-toed to the edge and teetered forward, leaving Sirius with no more than a handful of black feathers he had managed to grab from one of her wings.

Remus patted his pockets and realized all too late that he had left his wand upstairs and that James and Sirius were too distressed with screaming to cast a spell themselves. "A wand?! I need a wand." He was handed a wand and he cast a spell on her, but it bounced off of her like there was something protecting her, or keeping her from being protected, rather.

He watched her fall as if in slow-motion, even when the momentum was moving her so fast that it was nearly a blur. When she was about twenty feet from the ground he managed to cast a cushioning spell on the grass, and foolishly ran to catch her, tossing the borrowed wand over his shoulder. The sheer force with which she approached the surface had guaranteed that when he landed awkwardly on his right arm with her, the bones within it shattered with a searing bolt of pain. The crowd was reluctant to come closer, but James and Sirius appeared next to him seconds later. Sirius had managed to peel Gabriela off of Remus, while the latter moaned miserably on the cobblestones.

Remus chanced a look at his arm and almost fainted on the spot when he saw a shard of his severely broken bone, poking through the skin in his forearm. "Fuck fuck fuckity _fuck_ ," he groaned, hanging on to James while he was being helped up from the floor. His amber eyes searched for Gabriela, who was now in a trance-like daze in Sirius' arms, who in turn glared at her darkly. James was supporting Remus' weight, taking slow steps until they made it to the Hospital Wing. Needless to say, Madame Pomfrey almost died of a heart attack when she saw Remus, and immediately began to fuss over him, ranting at how she didn't expect him injured after just one day of his last visit.

"Do you know how many bones you broke?" Madame Pomfrey chided.

" _Do, tell_." Remus answered, deciding that this was the moment to enter his 'sarcastic twat' phase, as Sirius called it, as she began to twist his arm this way and that.

"Both bones in your forearm and the ball and socket of your elbow." Apparently, she missed the sarcasm.

" _Great_!"

She glared at him with pure venom. "This will be painful, Lupin. I suggest you brace yourself."

The nurse said as she readied herself to twist the bones to break them completely before she could set them back. There was a faint crack and Remus cringed, tears spilling down the corners of his eyes. Gabriela had snapped out of her stupor somewhere between the Entrance Hall and the First-floor landing. She was surprised at how supportive James and Sirius, two notorious jesters and lovers of jokes in bad taste, were being.

"Come on, mate. There's a bar of Honeyduke's dark chocolate in the dorm with your name on it." Sirius clapped Remus on the back with a bright smile, forcing his friend to reflect the gesture, even through the tears of pain.

"The kind with the almonds?"

Sirius barked out a laugh. "Is there any other kind for you?"

"This one will be the worst." The nurse interrupted. A far louder crack sounded, and Remus let out a yell.

"Son of a _bitch_!" he hissed through clenched teeth.

"Temper, Lupin. Watch your language."

"I hardly think _'Gee wiz_ ' fits the situation, Poppy." He growled back.

The nurse smiled in spite of his pissy attitude. After she made him down a few potions, he set his arm in a sling. "You'll have to wear this for two weeks. Only take it off to shower and sleep. You might feel a prickling sensation for a few days. Understand?" Remus nodded. "Can I ask, what happened? I heard a commotion." She looked at Gabriela pointedly. She was not convinced of the story that Gabriela slipped and fell off the landing.

James smiled, turning on the Head Boy charm he was so known for. "A 'Capture the flag' game gone wrong. We already told you, ma'am, she fell; he caught her."

"I threw myself." Gabriela said simply.

"She's delusional. You know, N.E.W.T.s _stress_." James added, giving her a pointed glare when the nurse wasn't looking.

They had been dismissed with a million warnings and the sneaking suspicion that the nurse was going to be watching them very closely. They returned to the dorm-room, James with his fingers securely wrapped around Gabriela's arm, Sirius helping Remus. Once they were back in the sanctity of their dominion, Remus plopped down on his bed, flinching slightly at the ache in his arm.

"Re—"Gabriela began.

Remus held his good hand up to silence her. "I'm sure I don't want to hear it." He proceeded to pinch the bridge of his nose, a sure head-ache coming.

"But—"

"Gabriela, I just watched you plummet from that window into the courtyard about 100 feet below. Do you really think I want to hear an excuse?" Remus' tone, as well as his stare, was murderous.

James had gone to the bathroom, but as soon as he opened the door, he jumped out with wide-eyes. "Dear Lord! What the hell?"

"The cuts healed." Gabriela muttered.

Not knowing what to respond, James turned back to the bathroom and summoned a house-elf to clean up. Remus didn't bother looking. He knew what he was going to see. Sirius tossed Remus a silver-wrapped bar, which he promptly caught in his good hand and unwrapped it, setting a piece into his mouth.

"Remus…"

He realized the voice was right next to him. He lifted his eyes to see her hovering over him. " _What_!?"

A tortured look crossed her face, as she wrung her hands. "I'm sorry."

Remus sat up, gazing quietly in her direction, before a fire-fueled rant came out from his lips. "What the _hell_ were you thinking, Gabriela!? What could have possibly crossed your mind to have possessed you to do this? Did you ever think that it would be me or James or Sirius or Pete walking in to find you in that bathroom, or identify your splattered remains as someone scraped you off the cobblestones? That we would spend an eternity asking what we could have done to fix it? To save our friend?" His gaze smoldered her and his voice was nothing below a scream.

"What has gotten into you? I get it that you look different and it's a hard adjustment, but you're still you, Gabs! You don't lash out, you let the people who love you, and want to help you through this _help you_!" James chided angrily.

"I'm sorry, OK?" She replied in a small voice. "I don't know what's going on. I just switch on a dime and then I'm angry at myself for no reason and my head goes through a million thoughts a second and all I can hear is you lot and every person in this school thinking of me, every single minute. I didn't want to come to school, but I knew Dad couldn't handle it. I was doing really well, and then I hurt Remus, and everything went to hell."

"You don't need to apologize, these wankers need to stop being so harsh," Sirius interjected. "Obviously tense situations make her tic and she's clearly upset about it."

"Sirius, she's tried to off herself four times in the last two days!" Remus whispered urgently.

"And I would think _you_ , of all people, would understand being in a tough situation when people look at you and think you're not human." Remus' anger faltered and died out, as did James'. Padfoot was absolutely right. His eyes turned to the far end of the room, where Gabriela sat on the corner of Sirius' bed. She was blood-splattered, her hair was matted and dirty, and her expression looked like she had gone to hell and back. Sirius kneeled in front of her, his hand brushing away her hair away from her face as best he could. "We just don't want to lose you, Gabs. You get that, right?" She nodded. "And, you know these spanners would take a killing curse for you, right?" Gabriela chuckled, smiling a watery smile, and nodding. "And, you know that the Ravenclaw team has no chance at the cup this year, right?"

"Oh, be quiet, you twat."

"I mean, have you seen their Captain? The bloody bird's got wings. That has to be cheating!"

"You know I can't actually _fly_ , right?"

Sirius snorted. "What's the bloody point of them, then?"

"Beats me but do let me know if you figure it out."

"How about, you go give Remus and James some love because they're shaking in their seats right now, and they adore you, and then we'll get you cleaned up?"

Gabriela sighed, allowing Sirius to step aside to go to the boys. James hadn't even gotten his glasses on yet, and his hair was flattened on one side of his head, severely jutting out at odd angles on the other. He clung to the girl for a good minute, muttering something into her ear that made her giggle and blush. When he deemed it fit to release her, she tentatively stepped towards Remus. With a smile, he patted the space beside him and as soon as she sat, wrapped his free arm around her. She clung to his midsection with desperation. His heart beat erratically and every part of him, including the wolf, breathed a sigh of relief. Surely, things could only go up from here.

"We're going to figure it out, I promise you." She muttered a 'thank you', and tentatively reached to his slinged arm. Her fingers burned, and he could feel her fingerprints scorching into his skin, but whatever pain he was feeling had left. "How did you do that?"

"I don't know. I can heal myself, but the only other person it's ever worked on is you. Maybe I've got a better handle on it. Surprisingly enough, these few days have been me with it _under control_."

"Like I said, we'll figure it out. If we can teach Prongs a whole year of Arithmacy in an hour, we can figure this out. Go with Pads, and get cleaned up, doll."

James scoffed. "For the record, I am deeply offended. Also, thank you for my 'Acceptable' in Arithmacy; it was touch-and-go for a while."

With a laugh, she followed Sirius into the bathroom. Every now and then he had to remind himself that she was safe and sound in the next room with Sirius to watch over her. The fact that she was _naked_ with Sirius watching over her didn't even bother him. An hour later, they came out of the bathroom. There were no remains of blood, her hair was clean and hanging around her face, she was wearing a blue jumper and jeans, her wings coming out the back of her shirt, and she looked all in all, much better. Much more like her old self.

"I am a genius, I know," Sirius gloated, as he showed her off. "Wait a second, Gabs." He tied her hair up in a blue ribbon, before turning her to the full-length mirror. "See how cute you look when you _don't_ look like a psycho killer?"

She chuckled. "Thank you, Sirius."

"You're welcome, doll. Doesn't she look marvelous, boys?"

"Aces!' James smiled excitedly.

"Agreed." Remus reciprocated, an easy smile on his face as he leaned back on his arms at the edge of James' bed where they were playing Exploding Snap.

"Hey! Wipe the hungry wolf look _off_ your face!" Sirius said with a grin. "Jeez, and he says _I_ act ungentlemanly."


	4. First(ish) Impressions

It took the man-power of the whole seventh year boys dorm and about half an hour to drag Gabriela out of the bedrooms on Monday morning. She simply desisted of the idea of having to actually _go to class_ in the state she was. Though they had gotten their schedules the Friday prior, today was to be the first official day of class, and while everyone seemed excited, James, Sirius, Peter and Remus had their hands full with keeping Gabs from bolting. They were currently in the dark, humid Potions classroom, Professor Slughorn doing a quick roll-call before he gave the introduction to what was going to the last year of Potions class for those few, select students.

"Here we go, Sirius Black." ( _Here, Sluggy_ ) "Lily Evans." He called, a small reply to her assistance was acknowledged. "Deirdre Kenning. Gabriela Lively. _Oh-ho_ , where's Lively?" he asked, scanning the room.

Remus dug his nails into his palm and spared a glance at Gabriela, who was about to pounce on the pot-bellied Professor. "Gabs, _calm down_!" He hissed as he grabbed her by the collar right when she flew out of her seat. She had never been an even-tempered lass, but it seemed the curse put her more on edge than usual, and it was even harder to keep her calm. "Sit and get a hold of yourself!"

"I'm right here, you fat, old, deranged fool!" Her voice was piercing and the whole classroom turned to looked at her with scared, curious and amazed eyes.

Slughorn chuckled half-heartedly. "Sorry, didn't see you there, lass. Quite a transformation, there. Kids do the craziest things, now-a-days."

"Uh-uh. No, no. You sit here. I do not plan to explain to Dumbledore why the Potions Master is dead." Remus muttered, repeatedly having to slam her back down on the bench next to him as she lunged at the teacher in ire.

"Remus Lupin. Marlene McKinnon. Becky Orion. James Potter. ( _Hey, Slug!_ ) Severus Snape. All here and accounted for. Very good."

"Time does fly when you are trying to stop your friend from going on a murderous rampage" Remus commented glumly at Sirius' fact of the day passing by quickly.

"I was not on a murderous rampage, Remus!" Gabriela glared at him as she scooped mashed potatoes onto her empty plate and throwing some carrots on them. Remus rolled his eyes and watched Gabriela make her mashed potatoes and carrots into a very elaborate silhouette of Professor Baulker, the Defense teacher, dying a tragic death caused by some very angry red-caps. That certain Professor had taken several cracks at Gabriela's appearance during class and Sirius now sported a burned hand resulting from having to tackle the girl half-way through an attack.

"You threw a _fire ball_ at the Defense teacher; you broke a crystal ball in Divination, killed half the plants in the greenhouses while trying to get to the Professor and you tell me you are _not_ on a murderous rampage?" James asked through a mouthful of turkey.

"Let's just hope Professor Eras doesn't try to even look at Gabby." Remus muttered.

Gabriela gasped. "I'm right _here_ , you know?!"

"Yes, there _you_ are." Remus grinned cheekily.

"I just so happen to love Astronomy." Gabriela was now stabbing her mashed-potato Professor with her fork.

"Let's just hope I have the energy to stop you when she decides to explain the effects of Mars on your transformation."

"Oi, Moony, you're taking _Astronomy_?" Sirius snickered.

"Yes, I am. Why? Is that a problem?" Remus folded his arms across his chest and quirked a brow.

"Of course not. I know that you girls have a fascination with stars."

Remus gaped. "Fuck you, Sirius!"

"I don't swing that way, Remus."

Remus snorted, almost choking on his pumpkin juice. "Yeah, that's why you insist on staying behind with James in the lockers after Quidditch."

James looked disgusted. "You do?"

Sirius' mouth was hanging open. "I do _not_! James' ass is hairy!"

"Come off it! You know you love my hairy ass!" The little group broke into laughter as the rest of the table stared at them incredulously. They were by and far, the weirdest lot at school.

They had developed an easy-going routine in the weeks that followed. Gabriela's things were brought up to the Gryffindor boys' dorm by some overly-helpful house elves, and it was clear that the girl had no immediate plans to move back to her own house. Although her Quidditch players still held a high degree of respect for her, the rest of her comrades decided that no curse that could cause _that_ was worth getting involved in, and respectfully, if a little mean-spirited, kept away from her. Peter had taught her how to focus the brunt of her rage in intricate tasks; so, now, most every bedside table was blanketed in a layer of small origami figurines. After classes, they would hide under James' invisibility cloak as best they could at their current size, and sneak into the Restricted Section of the library, picking up every book they could think of that might explain this curse and how to reverse it.

"Would you say you're more possessed or vessel?" James asked, casually, as he flipped through the pages of an ancient, dusty tome bound in what they hoped was crude leather and not human skin.

Gabby, whose face was contorted with the effort of a particularly difficult crease, sighed. "I don't know what either of that means, so, neither?"

"And, you still have your soul on you, yeah?"

Frank snorted, flipping through another book. He had joined the expedition a few weeks back after a little search of his own had revealed that the library had a whole _section_ dedicated to demon magic. "I thought Sirius giving Peter the birds and the bees talk was odd."

"He needs to know these things!" Sirius cried, looking up from his game of chess with Remus.

"The man is seventeen, and we _all_ walked in on him with Mary last year. I think you were a little late."

"It's never too late for subpar parenting, Frank," Remus remarked, chuckling as his knight obliterated Sirius' King in a checkmate.

"Do you still have your soul on you?" James repeated, exasperated.

"Last I bloody checked, yeah. It's not like I have a fucking tracking spell on it, Potter."

"Language," all five boys chorused, ignoring the dirty look she was casting all of them.

"You guys cuss all the time!"

"Yeah, and last year you cried when I jokingly told Sirius to fuck off. You're a creature of sunshine and light and will not be corrupted." James commented, flipping to a new chapter. "Now, have you had relations with the Devil?"

Remus dragged Gabriela up the steps of the Astronomy Tower for the eighth time that month. Generally, Gabriela lived for this class, astronomy was her _thing_. Boring tasks like tracking stars came so easily to her, and she found solace in the simplistic, repetitive nature of the influence the stars cast on creatures. The one thing she truly detested was the partnering system. While Remus had the good fortune of being partnered with Lily, Gabriela was paired with a fellow Ravenclaw by the name of Parker Crow. While he had yet to make any snarky remark or be unpleasant to her in any way, she was not really getting any more used to people other than the guys in the Gryffindor seventh year boys' dorm. Twice a week, Remus found himself shoving her towards her partner, albeit reluctantly, parroting the phrase 'everything will be fine'. Not having any real reason to skip out of class, she dragged her feet, silently trudging towards the tall, chocolate-skinned boy.

"Good evening, Gabriela." He said amicably, she merely nodded. The lack of speech didn't faze him at all, even after all that time. "Would you like to set up the telescope, or should I?"

Gabriela simply stood to the platform where the telescope was and began to calibrate and position it correctly before beginning her work. More than once she felt his presence behind her as she jotted down the coordinates and names on a star chart. She tensed when she felt his slightly cooler body step behind her and gaze into the telescope over her shoulder. Even on the platform he was a head taller than her. Her tiny hands clenched tightly into fists, her nails digging into her palms painfully. Sirius had told her to count to ten whenever the murderous impulses overcame her, but she so uncomfortable in this blatant disregard of personal space that she couldn't even do that. She could only glance at Lily and Remus in a silent prayer for help. The latter was now staring at them while Lily prattled about something he didn't pay attention to.

Parker stepped back, a small grin on his face. "I didn't mean to frighten you. I was just using the telescope as an excuse to get closer to you. Failed miserably." He whispered the last bit in a conspiratorial manner, winking good-naturedly at Gabriela.

She stared at him with apprehension, etched deep into the lines of her face. "Well, I don't seem to have any more tickets for the freak-show, Crow." She hissed, her tone dark.

He raised his arms defensively. "No, I meant no offense. I think you're fascinating, actually; and you're very cute." Her frown dropped a bit, but her eyes still bore like hot coals into him. With an easy smile, he continued. "Gabriela, would you like to accompany me to Hogsmeade this weekend?" He asked, biting his lip.

Nervously, she tugged at the ends of her ponytail, attempting a response. "I—er… um…" All words escaped her. Shock had left her completely defenseless.

He smiled broadly, clearly pleased at the effect he had had on her. "I'll let you think about it." He said just as the class was being dismissed.

Remus entered the dorm, another demonic book in hand, and nose deep in it, but the expression on his face was one too perplexed to have been caused by the book. He was bothered by something, the whisper of a rumor, and he clearly intended on not making it known to anyone until the day he died. And then there was Gabriela.

"Hey, Remus!" She called happily, his old teddy bear in her grasp, and one of his old shirts being used as pajamas. The house elves had brought up a cot and set it up nearby, but nine times out of ten, she managed to crawl back into bed with Remus. She was scared of the dark, which he found ironic, since the most dangerous thing in the dorm she could find in the dark was herself. The remaining times, she would pass out in the common room, and whoever brought her up would just toss her onto Remus' bed without a second thought. He had stopped being offended at the insinuation a while back, just around the time he realized that everyone else in the dorm was certain he was too much of a coward to either make a move or do something about it.

"Hello." He sat down on his bed, carefully making sure to keep his eyes roaming on the flowing script of the page.

"I know you're not reading, Moony. You're doing that thing again." The young wizard sighed. He had gotten much better at putting up his mental defenses and practicing his Occlumency, but every now and again his barriers slipped. In her defense, she had gotten much better at managing the noise, until she could practically ignore it, as long as it didn't sound urgent.

"Sorry," he replied shortly. He softened his tone when he saw her lean away from him, concerned. "Do you want to tell me what happened with Parker Crow today?"

"It's a funny story, actually," she laughed awkwardly, as she picked at the navy polish on her fingernails. "So, he wanted to know if I wanted to go with him to Hogsmeade this weekend."

Sirius swaggered into the room, tossing his rucksack aside as he strode purposefully towards the pair. "What's this rumor I keep hearing about you and Crow?"

"Does everyone fucking know about this?"

Sirius crossed his arms, having a very fatherly moment. "You're not going!"

Gabriela drew her brows together in confusion. "Wha—why? What did he ever do to you?"

The boy looked between the winged girl and his best friend in a quick back and forth. When Remus refused to make any sign of acknowledgement, he decided that brute force was his new strategy. "You're just not. I don't want you going out with him."

James and Peter crashed into the dorm, short of breath. "Who the fuck is Parker Crow and what's he got to do with you?" Peter asked, accusingly.

"You lot aren't making any sense. What's wrong with Crow?" Gabriela growled. There was only a sea of faces that interchanged knowing looks but said nothing. "I was going to turn him down, but since none of you have yet to give me good reason not to, I'll take him up on the offer."

James quickly interjected. "You most certainly will not!"

"Watch me!" She gave him a sickly-sweet smile before angrily tossing Remus' covers over herself.

The werewolf looked at his friends, his left eye twitching in a deeply repressed rage he was going to be reliving all weekend. "Thanks, guys. That went _well_." They all tried to smile apologetically, but Remus could do nothing else but continue reading and wait for his anger to pass.


	5. Chocolate & Firewhiskey

The atmosphere was tense the rest of the night, and even more during the morning when Gabriela got up to get ready for Hogsmeade. Remus glared at her from his spot on the bed as she pulled on her shoes and detangled the mess of her hair into a shiny, dark mane. Sirius was going out with what's-her-name from Hufflepuff, James had actually deluded Lily enough to get her to go out with him and Peter was God-knows-where. It seemed that good ol' Moony was on his own today.

He stomped down the stairs and into the icy wind, towards the path to the village, his face contorted into a grimace, but the prospect of chocolate made him exponentially happier. The wonderful world of Honeyduke's had provided him with about eight pounds of chocolate, making his satchel sag with the weight, some of which was relieved when he sat out in the street and devoured two of them. After he had wandered around Hogsmeade, he found shelter in the Three Broomsticks. Surely some butterbeer would prevent him from feeling any worse. As the first trip of the year, the pub was packed to the brim with snogging couples and friends discovering the village for the first time. His attention was pulled when the bell on top of the door jingled and in came the two people he least wanted to see, much less together.

"Can I not catch a _fuckin_ g break?" He muttered, sipping his butterbeer heavily, letting the warmth spread through his limbs.

Parker held the door open for Gabriela and she entered shyly, her companion close behind and they sat at a table away from the crowd. His friend had her back to him, but he could tell from the light shaking in the feathers of her pitch-black wings that she was laughing, amused at whatever Parker was telling her.

"This is killing you, isn't it?" Sirius' unmistakable voice asked.

"Not particularly." He replied casually but emptied his bottle of butterbeer in a single swig.

Sirius ignored him. "I'm curious. When did _'Honey, don't bite the head off that nice Professor_ ' become _'I wish she'd bite her way into my slacks'_?"

Remus looked disgusted. "Padfoot, I am so not in the mood to do this right now. I have other priorities to her right now. She's just my friend."

Black leaned closer to Remus. "Your friend who goes everywhere with you, who sleeps in your bed, even. If Parker keeps it up, she'll be going to bed with his scent _all over her_ and you'll endure sleepless nights of wondering just exactly what went on."

"Rosmerta, something a little stronger." Remus asked the barmaid, she set a bottle of Firewhiskey and a shot glass in front of him. "Thank you." He poured a shot and downed it.

"So, it _is_ killing you!" Sirius seemed pleased. "I can't say I'm surprised. You've been dying for her for _years_. You were the only first year pining over anyone."

" _No_! I mean she's—No, I just…" Remus burned through the bottle quicker than he thought.

"My work here is done!" He hopped off the stool and left his friend.

"I'm back!" Remus slurred as he stumbled, quite literally, into the dorm room later that night.

Gabriela covered her nose. "From a distillery?"

Remus laughed. "And the chocolate factory!" he yelled, tossing dozens upon dozens of chocolate bars into the air. In Remus' munchies phase of drunkenness, he at the rest of his chocolate, but in the idiotic phase of his inebriation, he bought ten galleons' worth of chocolate. Turns out that Remus John Lupin is, indeed, _that_ stupid.

"You all right, mate?" Sirius asked with a grin, leaning against his bed, nonchalantly.

"Yes! I had fun today! I had chocolate and I drank Firewhiskey and I saw _ickle Gabby_ with _Carker Prow_. How was your date, anyway?" he said, trying to walk a straight line further into the room. "I want to know _errythin._ "

Confused and silently pleading Sirius to help, she replied. "It's Parker Crow and it was fine. I'm seeing him again tomorrow."

"Well, that's great. You know, I'm so lucky. I have great friends and they meet the nicest people and it's all _so wonderful_. And you know, Carker is _really_ nice. And he was looking at you like—" He made a noise that they all assumed was meant to describe the sensation.

"What?" Gabriela and Sirius asked in unison.

"Yeah, you know. Just like, an explosion of all the feels and rainbows and how the light catches your hair and it looks like it's on fire, and you marvel at the wonder. You know, as you do. And you know, I'm happy for you. 'Cause you've had a hard time and well, I know I'll never have that, but I'm not jealous. You know, because I have a furry little problem and the teeth and the claws and the people running in fear from you during a full moon." His pace had slowed down, and he was staring distractedly at the moon phase tattoo in the crook of her left arm, watching as the ink moved to accurately represent the phase. She had gotten it in their fourth year, in secret, to better track Remus' health. He snapped out of his reverie, and continued, as if he had never stopped. "Girls like a different type of bad boy, like ickle Padsy, here." He pinched Sirius' cheeks and patted him on the face. "Seriously man… haha… ' _Siriusly_ '… Honestly dude, if I were gay, I'd totally do you. You're like all… _handsome and shit_. No wonder all the girls are after you. The junk in the jeans can't be that bad, either, 'cause they all keep coming back." Remus laughed as he patted the front of Sirius' pants, which Sirius immediately tried to stop, but failed.

"Thank you, Remus?" He said uncertainly.

"But, Gabs, really, if you want to date Prow, date him, if you want to kill the Professors, kill 'em. I've been too controlling and I'm sorry I put you in this precarious situation. So, officially, this is Moony butting OUT!" He gave a wolfly howl on the last word, the noise continuing until he finally collapsed, out cold; Sirius grabbing him half-way to the floor.

"Whoa, there, Moony. I've got you. There we go." Sirius carried Remus to his bed, muttering a thanks to Gabs as she pulled the sheets back and gave him space to maneuver. "I reckon you should find a new sleep partner tonight. You don't want to be in the line of fire when Moony wakes up with a hangover."

The witch struggled to comprehend the situation. "Is he alright? I've never even seen him drink, much less drunk. What the hell happened?"

Sirius looked from Remus to her and smirked secretly. "I can think of a few things."

Remus woke up the next morning slightly more edgy than is usual for him. He normally can manage the morning without much incident, but today, as the light of the new morning sifted through the crack in the curtains, he was insulting each and every being in the high heavens for making something so foul as light. His long-fingered hands covered his face and groaned. He decided that rolling gently until he reached the edge of the bed was his best bet, but he overextended, and ended up falling face first onto the floor, knocking his head onto the bedside table.

" _Shit_!" he hissed, raising himself slowly from the floor. Every single bone in his body cried out in pain. He very rarely had anything stronger than tea, much less something stronger than butterbeer. So, the feeling of a hangover was not only foreign to him, but it was excruciatingly horrid, too. Even so, he had managed to hobble his way down to the Great Hall for some breakfast, by himself, since the dorm was empty.

"Morning, Moony!" Sirius greeted happily as Remus threw himself at the seat next to him.

Amber eyes turned dark as he stared at his friend. "Stop screaming." His tone was low and more than a little intimidating, something that Sirius took to signify nothing, as he continued to let out bark-like laughter at the sheer state of him. The rest of Gryffindor table stared at Remus strangely, hardly ever seeing him in a foul mood.

It was then that he felt the irresistible urge to look over at the Ravenclaw table. To be truthful, it was not one of his better ideas. Wings folded neatly behind her, leaning over the table with a smile on her face was Gabriela, having a very close conversation with Parker Crow. Remus raised a chipped mug to his lips and sipped from his piping hot coffee, all the while staring at the pair with a disgusted look. "I don't trust him." he muttered under his breath. James and Sirius smiled amusedly.

"You don't trust him because he's out with Gabby." James was leaning into the table with a smile, Lily at his side whom was also smiling knowingly at the irate man. Remus Lupin not trusting a guy who was dating the girl he very secretly loved? How dare he insinuate that causation!

"What does that have to do with anything?"

James scoffed, not believing his luck. It was going to take decades for him to let his friend live this moment down. "Did he really just ask that, Padfoot?"

"I believe he did, Prongs. Terribly tragic, no?" Sirius smirked and turned to Remus one more time. "Moony, old boy, what do you feel towards Parker right now?"

Remus did not reply. Inside there was a very dark part of him, one that only arose once a month, that had decided to chant that he should probably kill the prick right now. He sat with his upper lip curled back over his teeth, a murderous stare which he wouldn't take off of Crow. "Why the hell does he have to lean so close to Gabriela? He can hear her just fine from a normal distance." His jaw dropped when he saw, as if in slow-motion, Parker move in towards Gabriela and press his lips to hers. It was also at that moment in which Sirius had to tackle Remus to the floor before he tore Crow limb from limb.

"Come on, Remus. Relax. _Down, boy_!" Remus pushed him off in a single movement and stomped out of the Great Hall, a horde of girls giggling and sighing for the sheer act of rugged force he had just displayed. It was a side that very little people had seen.

Now, if you knew Remus Lupin well enough you'd know that there was only one way in which he coped with frustration. He cleaned. He had already tackled the bathroom, the floor in the dorm, had made each and every one of the beds, organized every trunk and nightstand and was now arranging the hundreds of candy bars he had bought in his state of idiocy into a replica of Hogwarts, complete with little paper students that moved around.

 _THUD!_

Suddenly it felt like all the wind had been knocked out of him and he was flat on his back, the cold stone floor sending shivers down his spine, or was that, perhaps, due to the teenage girl who was now on top of him, a cheeky grin on her face? Gabriela bared all her teeth in a smile and growled playfully. Remus was in no mood to play, so he pushed her off and went back to his model, only to be knocked back again. This time, after the growl, she began to nibble on his shoulder. Remus gave her an annoyed look, but it faltered slightly as he watched how the light caught her hair and turned it into a dark red, how each feather on her wings filtered the light that got to the floor, how he felt her plush lips graze his skin when she playfully bit him and how lovely it actually looked. How lovely _she_ looked. His eyes grew wide in shock.

"Well, I'll be damned..." he muttered softly, Gabriela stared inquisitively. "It's nothing." She went back to mauling his shoulder, growling deep in her throat, stirring a wolf that he had just convinced back into a slumber deep in his chest. "What are you doing?"

"I'm on happy patrol!" she replied with a grin. "So, smile!" She switched her biting to his neck.

Remus felt a blush creep from head to toe before he pushed her off completely. _This girl will be the death of me_ , he thought. "Stop it!" he raised a hand when he saw her prepare to lunge again.

Gabriela shrunk on herself, her wings pressed flush against her back, trying to minimize her size. "Why?"

"Moony doesn't like it. I might attack you." Well, it was an attack of _sorts_.

"Mr. Moony, the werewolf, has never had a problem with me, and you know it. We're very good friends." She playfully shoved Remus aside, a soft smile on her lips. "Come on, Remus. I'm trying to cheer you up. I know you hate being hung over, but, damn. Smile for me."

Remus pulled the fakest smile he could muster. "There, satisfied?" With a groan of frustration, she left the dorm.


	6. Because of reasons

Remus was now spending most of his time avoiding Gabriela whenever he knew that she was with Parker. It was taking all of his self-control, not to jump on him in Astronomy and rip him to shreds with his bare hands. The werewolf had laid a few more colorful options, delighted that he was allowed to do what he loved: hating everyone, and everything, and planning its demise. The only downside would be that Gabriela would be utterly distraught if he did, and neither of his identities was comfortable with that prospect.

He was barely paying attention to Professor McGonagall as she discussed the finer points of turning a strawberry into an exact clone of you. He was more interested in looking sadly at the quill he had in his hand. After the umpteenth time of James nudging him in the ribs, he responded. "What?" he asked, slightly irritated of having his contemplation interrupted.

"What is going on with you? What's so bloody important about that quill."

He sighed. "It's not mine. I don't chew my quills; Gabby does. This one is hers."

James arched a brow. "And you are terribly sad because it's not your quill or because it's Gabby's?" He was replied by a sigh. "Oh, yeah. I forgot you were madly in love with her."

"I am _not_ madly in love with her! I have a general concern about her wellbeing," he hissed under his breath, attempting to cap his anger as quickly as possible.

James ignored him. "I can understand that. I mean, you spend every moment together, you sleep in the same bed, her body pressed to yours…"

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Lupin, if you could please save the conversation for later. Or, better yet, disregard it, altogether." Professor McGonagall said as she passed out the strawberries. Remus sighed again.

"You're going to tell me next that Gabs loves strawberries."

"No, actually, she hates them. She says they taste too red."

James twisted his face. "Of course, she bloody does. When has that bird ever done anything normal?" He muttered to himself, as his friend lazily flicked his wand at the strawberry and produced a clone of himself.

Sirius, on the other hand, was taking the mickey out of him at the library. " _Oh, Remus, I love you. I cannot live without you. Please make sweet love to me tonight!_ " Sirius teased in a high falsetto, earning him a punch in the stomach from Remus.

"Would you stop it!?" He hissed urgently. They were in the library and people were looking at them oddly.

Sirius returned to his normal voice. "When will you stop sulking and actually do something about that girl?"

"I am not sulking, and she has _boyfriend_!" he spat the last word as if it were the dirtiest insult ever. "Now, _shut up_!"

With a wicked grin Sirius leaned into Remus' ear without him noticing. " _Oh, Remus, you wonderful, sexy beast_!" he had gone back to the annoyingly high falsetto.

Remus swatted him repeatedly. "Eww... I could feel your breath on my ear and everything. Disgusting, Padfoot."

"I was not the one that declared his gay crush on his best friend." Sirius said matter-of-factly. The librarian hissed for the hundredth time for them to be quiet.

" _I WAS DRUNK_!" he said, a little louder than intended.

The library slammed her fist on her desk, startling the pair. "Out! Both of you!' Madame Pince hissed.

Remus angrily packed his books back into his satchel. "Now look at what you've done!" They fell into pace as they exited the library, their footfalls echoing in the halls.

"I'm not the one in love with my best friend." he said in a sing-song voice.

"You vain bastard, I am not in love with you!" He countered, full of ire.

Sirius snorted. "I'm flattered that I was your first though, but I wasn't talking about me."

"I...er—"

"...love her?"

His face relaxed into a sad frown, his fingers distractedly fiddled with the straps of his bag. "No, Padfoot. She has a boyfriend. They've been going at it for three months. I can't do that to her."

"And if she were single?" His eyes sparkled, as if he was expecting a development in the near future.

"No. I don't know." He hesitated "Maybe." Remus blushed crimson, a perfect contrast to the black robes. "You know that I can't. It wouldn't be fair, no matter how much I wanted it."

"Aww! Moony is in love!" Sirius cooed.

"With whom?" Gabriela's excited voice came from behind them. She caught up to them, linking both her arms with one of theirs. "Who are you in love with?" She asked again, there was an edge to her voice that Remus was too distracted to notice and Sirius was delighted to find.

"The giant squid! Remus just declared his undying love for it." Sirius replied, hearing an audible sigh of relief from Remus.

"Yeah, I just love that thing. Love of my life!"

Gabriela giggled. "You lot are such fucking weirdos, I swear." she said with a laugh, but her tone was now lighter. "Sirius, I need to talk to you later, ok?"

Sirius stopped mid-step, amazed. "Me?"

Gabriela nodded. "Well, I have to go to the Quidditch pitch; I'll see you after dinner, all right." She stood on her tip toes to give each of the boys a kiss on the cheek before she dashed off.

Remus stood, rubbing the spot where Gabriela's lips touched him with a dazed look on his face. That was, until Sirius smacked him on the back of the head. "What was that for?"

"If you had seen yourself, you'd have done that too. Get a grip on yourself man! Have some dignity!"

Sirius huffed and walked the opposite direction of Remus, thinking that he could get a few minutes in with his latest play-thing before dinner, before he was roughly pulled into a dark broom closet.

"What the bloody hell?"

"Shhh!" Gabriela hissed.

"I thought you were going to the pitch!"

"No. I needed to talk to you."

Sirius looked unimpressed. "In here?"

"It's less conspicuous for someone to see you walk out of here than the girls' lavatory."

"Er.. the dorm? Hello?"

"Remus can go there. I needed to talk to you alone!" she pleaded desperately.

Sirius crossed his arms. 'What's wrong?"

She fidgeted nervously, still remaining ever so silent.

'I can't help you if I don't know what's wrong!" he sighed in exasperation.

"I broke up with Parker a week and a half ago." She said barely above a whisper.

The boy carefully measured his words. He was sure this was going to happen, but he also didn't want to say that to her. "I thought you two were doing well. What happened?"

"He's fine, I guess, but he just lets me be. And I know that's not bad, but he lets me be as quiet, and depressed as I want. He doesn't like Quidditch, he doesn't eat chocolate. I feel like a museum antiquity. We're not particularly dynamic together."

"Chocolate?" He asked with a wide, witty grin on his face. Now this was grand.

"It's a sensitive topic for me, Sirius. You know chocolate is like my family!" Sirius raised his hands defensively, although all he really wanted to do was tell this girl why exactly she was being an idiot.

"Let me get this straight, Lively. You dislike Crow because he's not a hyperactive babysitter that lives off chocolate?"

Gabriela rolled her eyes, pushing her fringe out of her eyes with the expression of a petulant child. "If you want to brand it some sort of way, then, yes."

"So… you don't like him because he's _not_ Remus?"

"That's ridiculous!"

"Is it though?"

"I am _not_ doing that to Remus Lupin. I am sorry, Black. I've done a lot of shit this term, but that would be crossing a line." Gabriela replied, anger rolling off of her in heady waves.

"Why the hell not?" He asked defensively. No one suggested that his friend wasn't good enough and got away with it.

"This is the only normal thing I've done all year, Padfoot. He's counting on me to try to regain whatever semblance of a normal life I had." Gabriela sighed. "He's done nothing but sacrifice for years, and this is the one thing I promised myself I would do for him after all I've put you through—"

"Do you think he gives a flying fuck about _normal life_? The man is a prudish werewolf that spends his time either compulsively cleaning or in detention. He just wants you to be _happy_ , not _pretend_ that you are. That man would tear out his heart if it meant that it would make yours hurt a little less because he's in— he's your friend," he finished, glad to have caught himself before giving off someone else's secret.

The door to the broom cupboard swung open. "I thought I heard you, Sirius. You're the only one who can manage to get into a broom cupboard _that_ quickly." Remus said in a bored tone. He looked at the other occupant and his heart sunk at the shimmer at the corner of their eyes, the tell-tale sign of tears. "Gabs, what's wrong?"

Sirius beat her to the reply. "She's a little upset. She broke up with Parker."

"Oh, come on, doll. Why would you even cry over that tosser?" he said embracing her tightly. "He has the personality of a doorknob. I don't even know _what_ possessed you to even accept his advances." Although his tone was casual, he could feel his heart hammering against his ribcage, and he really hoped that she didn't notice. Single was good. Single he could live with, though it took away his excuse to repress his feelings to the darkest pits of hell.

"You're doing the thing, Moony. And you absolutely reek of chocolate."

Remus laughed. "Sorry about that, and, yeah, I just inhaled about eight bars of it." He replied holding her at arms' length and showing her the wrappers. His hand had moved on its own accord and his fingers were gently raking through the dark, velvety locks in a soothing manner, his heart clenching and the soft sigh of contentment that escaped her. It made a shiver run down the length of his spine, making his limbs tingle gently. It was about then that he remembered that Sirius was there, too.

"Chocolate." Sirius quipped smugly from behind them. He watched as the two looked at each other, cheeks stained vermillion at remembering they had an audience at this very intimate moment. He rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Idiots, the both of you," he muttered under his breath.


	7. Mister Moony

"Oi, Remus. If a steam train rides towards the west in the middle of July, runs over a penny in the tracks and passes a train going towards the east, what color are the train conductor's shoes?" Gabriela asked, whispering into Remus' ear in the library, though she was dutifully staring at her Arithmacy book the whole time. After she had broken up with Parker, they had resumed their life-long ritual of doing homework together in the library. Both of them, cowards that they were, had silently agreed that the day in the broom cupboard had not happened, and that they clearly _did not_ feel anything for each other. Then again, both of them would get uncharacteristically snappy and jealous when the other was approached by a member of the opposite sex.

"W-what month is it again?" his voice cracked slightly, his mouth suddenly very dry.

"July." Her eyes were glued to the book, it made absolutely no sense to her, and, by the way Remus was scratching his head, it didn't make sense to him either.

"What the hell kind of question is that?" he finally said, laughing. His hands ruffled his hair as he tilted his head in amusement, staring at her while she giggled, her wings ruffling slightly.

Remus scrubbed his face trying to press the sleep away from his eyes. The bags under his eyes were coming back with a vengeance, and he looked pale and peaky, Gabriela noted, as she stretched her arms above her head, her wings opening their full span and shaking out the stiffness from sitting still for so long. With a yawn, she pulled the sleeves of her robes, which fell far below her wrist, up to her elbow. The small moon had only the tiniest sliver shaded. It made sense. Neither of them got much rest when it was near the moon. "I'll do your Charms homework for the break, yeah?"

He waved the notion away. "No, I can do it before the term starts again. Don't worry about it."

"Mate, I have nothing to do, I can do a twelve-inch essay for you." A mischievous smile stretched on her lips, as she leaned closer to Remus. "Unless, this means you're going to finally let me tag along."

"Are you daft? I don't want you anywhere _near_ the Shack tomorrow night, or so, help me God—"

Her grin only grew. "I work for the other team, though, so—"

"It's not funny." His face had fallen, and his ink-stained fingers tapped his quill against a scrap piece of parchment in a nervous fashion. All of their research had amounted to little in the past few months, and his frustration only grew with the moon.

Rolling her eyes, she glanced around to make sure no one was in the vicinity before continuing to press the subject. "If there were ever a time for me to be there, it would be _now_. I'm—"

With a wave of his wand, his supplies all packed themselves, and he rose from his seat. "I am not doing this with you," he muttered, sourly.

Amazingly, he managed to avoid her all night, and the whole of the next day. She imagined he had holed himself up in the room of requirement, since when she tried to access it, the room seemed unavailable. None of the boys had said anything about their conversation, so they probably just assumed that it was Remus being his surly, Moony-self. Then again, no one was happy about having a moon on Christmas day. Night fell, and Gabriela watched, entranced, as the moon grew bright; the sound of howling followed close behind. The boys had left, off to their night to prance with Moony until daybreak. It wasn't fair. She knew she could handle herself, but maybe… The gears in her head turned, and before the voice in her head (which, coincidentally, sounded a lot like Remus) could interject, she was already in the shortcut behind the tapestry, descending to the main doors.

Wind whipped her hair around her as she ran towards the Whomping Willow. She knew what she had to do, and with a quick hand, her wand cast a perfect immobilization charm, allowing her to slip into the passageway. _No turning back now,_ she thought, as she ran the remainder of the way until she hit a dead end. The sound from the floorboards let her know that the boys had all changed and were pacing around the small structure, trying to calm the beast. They wouldn't notice her entering the open trapdoor. Except that when she emerged, she was not at a corner of the room, as she had incorrectly assumed, but smack dab between a rat, a dog and a stag, and a raging werewolf.

The Animagi panicked, frozen in fear and wondering whether it was advisable to move to save her, or pretend she wasn't there as to not alert the beast. The werewolf, large and imposing compared to her small, slender frame, had its haunches raised, as it backed into a corner, growling lowly in its throat. Gabriela took a tentative step towards the beast, watching it shrink back, suspiciously, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Peter transform back, bidden by Sirius to pull Gabriela out of the room while they distracted him. The moment he took a step, an ear-shattering growl erupted from Moony's mouth. "Don't move, Pete. If he doesn't kill you, I will." Taking another step, she sunk to her knees, extending her right hand, palm up, to the wolf. "Mr. Moony, are you alright?" The creature looked confused, the growling stopped, and it tilted its head inquisitively at the sound of her address.

"Lively, get the _fuck_ away from it, _right now_." A glance over her shoulder proved Sirius and James had joined Peter in their human forms, wands raised defensively.

"It's not an _it,_ Sirius. It's Remus. Also, I'm kind of an immortal demon, at the mo', so I think I'll be fine." Her voice was clipped in her scold but returned to a brighter sound when she turned back to the werewolf. "I've been waiting to meet you for ages. You're even more gorgeous than I thought." She had gotten so close now, that her fingers brushed the trembling muzzle of the beast, as it shook in apparent fear. "Don't worry. I'm not here to hurt you. I would never hurt you, Remus… _Moony_. Sorry for getting you mixed." Her fingers were now deep in the fur of its head, scratching at his skull until his ears perked back up from having been folded back in distress. With a woeful whine, he pressed his muzzle flat against her hand and licked at her arm, gently. "There's a good lad. I'm sorry I startled you, but I couldn't wait to see you."

"Alright, you met him. Time to go, Gabby," James managed to croak out, side-stepping towards his friend. Moony growled, pouncing forward and placing himself distinctly between James and his target, causing the latter to promptly jump back with his wand raised.

"NO! Mr. Moony, those are your friends, you don't hurt your friends. Do you hear me?" The wolf looked conflicted, stepping back slightly, but staring apprehensively between James and her. "Friends. You don't ever hurt your friends. _Ever_. They're here to protect you. They want us _both_ to be safe." The wolf dropped to the floor with a huff, whining gently. "What do we say?" The beast crawled on its belly to James shaking feet, placing its massive head one of his trainers and licking an exposed part of his ankle.

"How the bloody hell are you doing that?"

"I'm not sure, but how about Padfoot and Wormtail have a little play with him before he remembers he wants to eat you?" The two changed immediately, bidding the werewolf to roughhouse in the empty bedroom next door while James plopped into one of the chairs of the small dining space, unsure of what was happening.

"It's like he's been waiting for you to turn up, and he can't believe it," James remarked, for the millionth time in half an hour. "He and I play around when I'm a stag, but he never lets any of us that close. I mean he _licked my leg_."

"I always knew he liked me." She declared, smugly.

" _How_? You've never seen him."

"Remus would tell me. He can feel him. I would talk to him and watch Remus' face do all sorts of shit."

"Language," he remarked, automatically, though he smiled when she frowned, making her nose crinkle.

"Sorry."

 _Flashback_

Eleven-year-old Remus John Lupin had been at his new school for less than a week before the first moon had happened. He was sitting in the library, at a large table with his parchments all lined up, trying to catch up on school work. His body, however, was more intent on passing out from exhaustion than anything else. With a deep breath, he dipped his quill and began to jot down notes on his scrap parchment in what could only be described as elegant chicken scratch.

"You look tired. Are you sure you're OK to do homework, Remus?" A tiny Ravenclaw was leaning over the table, her light brown hair was in a messy attempt at a bun, though every now and then tendrils would fall into her bright green eyes, causing her to blow them out in a huff. Remus had sat with her during their first Transfiguration lesson and found that 1) she was rather smart and picked the material up very quickly, 2) she very rarely shut up, and 3) she was very insistent. When he suggested they study together, she followed him until they hammered out a time and place to do so. Remus was excited to have a friend of another house, but that was before the moon had zapped him of any energy he could have possibly used to do his homework.

He watched with amusement as she pushed her ink-sodden sleeves up her arms, the robes being far too large on her body in the hopes she would "grow into them", later. "I'm alright, Gabby. I just got back from visiting my mother; she's ill. The travel makes me tired," he replied, using the unoriginally crafted lie that Dumbledore had supplied for him. Remus was never a good liar and lying to his friend just made him all the worse at acting. The girl, however, was too absorbed in her work to notice his awful performance.

"Is that where you got that nasty scratch under your collar? Did you have a fall?" The fact that the tiny girl missed no details was also of concern.

"Er… rotten banister. I fell off the side of the stairs," he answered, carefully, leafing through his Transfiguration book, hoping the weight in his hands helped them stop shaking.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Well, that was better than what I was going to suggest. I thought you were a werewolf," she replied with a giggle, as she scribbled lines into her parchment, oblivious to the fact that Remus had loudly dropped his book, spilled his ink and ruined his half-done essay.

"W-w-why would you say that?" His voice was a little louder and higher pitched than he would have liked.

"It's a joke. I like Astronomy, and I'm in the habit of tracking the moon phases. It was full this past weeke— _you're actually a werewolf_." She finished bluntly, the moment her eyes looked up from her work to see the chaos Remus had descended into, the lack of color in his face, and the fact that he had not made a move to fix anything. Immediately tears began to stream down Remus' face, and he picked up his satchel and carefully packed whatever supplies he could salvage into it. "Where are you going?"

"I need to - _sob-_ pack my trunk - _sob-_ so I can take the train back - _sob-_ when I get expelled - _sob-_." He replied, his words barely intelligible.

"Why would you get expelled? I'm assuming the Headmaster and teachers knew. Besides, who am I going to study with, then? Sit down." She waved his concerns away as she went back to scribbling.

The surprise on the young boy's face was plain, innocent and pure. "You're not going to tell?"

"That you're possibly cooler than I am? _Pfft_ , you wish!" Gabriela grinned broadly, setting her quill down and scooting closer to the calming Remus. "Does he, like, live inside you all the time?"

The young Gryffindor fidgeted uncomfortably. "It's not like that. I can sense him, and sometimes he tries to push me into making certain decisions, but it's like he's asleep for the month until it's his turn to be out."

The little hawk was entranced, leaning as close as she dared to her study companion. "How does it feel when _you're_ the one sleeping inside?"

"It's weird. Like when you hear a conversation in the seaside, but you're underwater and it sounds off. I don't like it." He shrugged, not knowing how else to explain it.

She pondered silently, organizing the information she had just received. "Well, it's probably not that great for him, either. He has to feel that all the time." Her expression brightened from her focused frown. "Could I maybe talk to him? If you concentrated really hard on helping him hear?" Remus was out of his depth. No one had ever thought of _talking_ to it. He wasn't even sure if it was possible… or why he had chosen to study with this particular girl, for that matter. Nevertheless, the boy nodded, hesitantly.

Scrambling in her seat, Gabriela pulled her sleeves up, taking care to keep as much of the ink away from him as she gently cupped his face and stared straight into his honey-colored eyes. "Mister Werewolf, sir," she began, and Remus noticed that both her fingers tingled on his face, and that something was stirring inside him as he allowed him to listen. His eyes were flashing an ethereal shade of green and he had fallen into that underwater trance, like she had called the wolf, and he had not hesitated to push Remus out of the way to appear. "My name is Gabriela. I'm pleased to meet your acquaintance. I hope I didn't interrupt your sleep with my silly introduction. I just wanted you to know that I think you're wicked cool. I hope we meet one day and have a chat. We could be friends, just like Remus. Until then, we can speak like this. Have a pleasant evening. Goodbye, now." With a loud gasp, Remus snapped out of his fit, eyes darting everywhere as he tried in vain to remember the last few minutes.

Gabriela retrieved her hands from his face, leaving a few black smudges on his cheeks. "Are you OK?" She noticed that Remus was now stroking his chest with a frown, as if pondering a particularly difficult question.

"Yeah." He paused, tilting his head and looking at his companion. "I think he _liked_ you," he said, in disbelief, remarking in his mind that the wolf wasn't the only one who did.

"Of course, he did. What's not to like?" She fished in her pockets until she produced a bar of Honeyduke's chocolate and handed it to her study companion. "Dad says chocolate always helps. Eat, you'll feel better." The young Gryffindor spent the remainder of homework taking furtive glances from under his mess of sandy blond curls at the girl with ink-stained sleeves.

 _Flashback over_

"I've never known Moony to like _anything_ , including Remus," James commented, scratching his chin. " _Especially_ Remus." The pair watched as Padfoot and Moony tussled amongst each other, pushing a quaffle back and forth across the room while Wormtail attempted to push it off-course. "Oh, Circe, if you didn't know any better…" he trailed off, watching the three play together. This was the first time they had done this. Most moons they were too busy keeping Moony from gnawing on himself in desperation and need for blood.

The werewolf dropped the quaffle, pushing it towards his canine companion, and doubled back towards Gabriela. He lay his large head on her lap, eyes closing when her fingers carded gently through his fur. "All tuckered out?" The wolf glanced back towards the bedroom, where a bed with torn curtains lay in disarray. With a heavy heart she remarked the scratches and chunks torn out of the bedposts, trying not to think of moons gone by when the boys weren't with him, and he had to suffer the night alone. He gently grabbed hold of her sleeve, careful not to graze her skin with his teeth and tugged gently. "Want me to stay with you a while?" The whine responded an affirmative. She glanced at James with a dark smile. "It's not Moony who's going to murder me in the morning, is it?"

The bespectacled young wizard snorted. "The lads and I are out of here the second dawn breaks. You can deal with Remus your own damn self."

Although she narrowed her eyes at him, it wasn't like she could particularly blame him. Remus was going to be so upset when he came to, and she was unsure whether she would be welcome into Gryffindor tower after all was said and done. "Charming, Jay. Goodnight, lads." She ruffled the fur on the beast's jowls with affection. "Lead the way, gorgeous." The wolf turned on his heel, prancing towards the room, tail wagging behind him. He waited patiently for Gabriela to pull the sheets back and settle in, before he hopped onto the bed, making the whole thing creak, and pushed himself until he had Gabriela's head atop his belly and the rest of his body curled around her protectively. She giggled as the wolf lapped at her nose before his eyes blinked heavily and his breathing evened out in slumber. It wasn't long until Gabby went down the same path.

The sudden jerk beneath her head was what woke her, hours later. True to his word, James, Sirius and Peter were nowhere to be found, but she did notice the Invisibility cloak bundled on the table of the dining room. Moony gave a baleful whine beneath her, and she sat up and turned onto her knees, gently stroking the beast's head as its limbs twitched and cracked with the fall of the moon. Gabriela had never seen Remus transform. Watching his skin rip and bones poke out where they're not supposed to made her want to cry and wretch in equal measure. The howling was turning into spine-tingling screams, as the figure resembled the human more and more.

With a groan, Remus gripped the sheets, naked as the day he came to this earth, panting heavily and sweat dripping off his skin. Gabriela scrambled, getting water and a bucket, in case he was sick and placing it in front of him while she soothingly ran her hand down his back. Her initial instinct was right, as she watched (and heard) Remus become violently sick into the bucket, bits of bone and fur floating in the bile. It seems Moony had a snack before she had gotten there. With blind hands, he grasped at the glass of water and knocked it back, letting the empty glass roll on the bed before the werewolf realized there was something off about the hand stroking him. He snapped his head towards her with wild eyes flashing over her figure.

"Remus, before you—," she started, using soft tones and calming cadence.

" _WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE_?" He yelled, his voice deep and gravelly, angrier than she had ever seen him in her life. She snapped her mouth shut, thinking better of her sarcastic retort. "Oh, God, did I hurt you? Fuck fuck fuck _fuck_. Shit, let me have a look at you." Without waiting for an answer, he pulled her arm towards him, pulling the sleeves of her jumper up and turning it over to inspect. He did this to any bit of skin he could think accessible, breaking down into a sob when he found her to be perfectly fine. Taking a deep breath, he scrubbed his face, leaving a dirty smudge on his cheeks before continuing. "Go to the common room. We'll talk when I get back."

"Remus…" He did not turn around at her call, concentrating rather on collecting the clothes on the broken chair in the corner, pulling the pieces on with his back turned towards her. Without another word, she scampered off, collecting the cloak James had left her and making a beeline for Gryffindor boys' dorm room.


	8. Obedience

Peter, James and Sirius were awake when she stumbled into the dorm, quiet and subdued, all sitting on Sirius' bed, whispering among themselves.

"Lively, I thought you'd be dead by now," Sirius remarked, a boyish grin marring the severity of his claim. "I'm surprised you're not maimed, at the very least."

Through her pounding heart, she managed a smile. "I am, too, but I don't think my good luck will last long. The man's livid."

"As he well should be. It's the _one_ thing he's asked you never to do." Peter exclaimed, rolling his eyes at her. "You know how easily he could have snapped your neck while you were so cozy in bed last night?"

"But he didn't." The room was surprised that it was James who had offered the response.

"James—" Sirius started, warningly.

"Padfoot, _that_ ," he gestured towards Gabriela, "used to be us. The truth is we didn't know if Remus would kill us the first time we joined him, either."

The door slammed opened, Remus appearing in the opening with a stony look on his face. "I'm not sure I'm above killing you _right now_ , to be honest." He gestured Gabriela to the next bed over. "Sit." He tossed his bag onto his bed and silently stood cross-armed in front of them for several minutes. "You are so unbelievably _stupid_ that I can't even _begin_ to imagine how you thought this idea was OK. Who allowed this?" They were all silent, dutifully staring at the ground like schoolchildren. " _WHO_?"

"They didn't allow it. I snuck in after you transformed and threated them if they came close." Gabriela felt that what little courage she had was slowly dwindling in the shadow of Remus' anger. All she wanted was to be there for her friend, and she didn't want the boys to get in trouble, so she felt justified in stretching the truth. Honestly, she wasn't entirely sure that the boys were capable of doing much while their minds were exploding last night.

"Gabriela, you're five foot nothing. You're not exactly a threat," he spat back.

With a snap of her fingers everything around Remus was on fire, and his previously unhurt body acquired a few heat blisters from the proximity. Another snap of her hands and the flames had gone, as if nothing had happened. "I'm not a child. I am not defenseless. I did not do this carelessly. If I have to be stuck like this for any length of time, the least I can do is make sure to be around for my friend when he's in need."

"Did you not think that this may not be a fail-safe? Or that the werewolf could have penetrated your defenses? I could have hurt you! I could have killed you! I could have _turned_ you!"

Gabriela kept her voice level, avoiding having the screaming match her temper, and her desperately ringing brain, was desperate to have "And I am once again _astounded_ that that's how you rank tragedies from best to worst scenario."

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe _I_ didn't want you to _see me_ that way? A mongrel that just wants to go out and hurt people or hurt himself? That I didn't want you to think of that when you saw me?" He had fallen to a sit on his bed, his voice breaking as he tried to keep himself from crying. "Maybe I just wanted you _not_ to know the monster."

"Take that back, Remus." He looked up through watery eyes. "Take it back. He was nothing but lovely and terrified, and you call him a monster. He didn't choose to be you no more than you chose to be him, so take it the fuck back!" She had finally raised her voice and felt the boys scoot back further away from their interaction with trepidation. "Sometimes we don't have a choice in what we become, now do we?"

"Your situation is different," he replied carefully.

"Yes, yours is _momentary_." Tears flowed down her face, the boys debated on whether she was even aware she was crying. Her sniffle was accompanied by Remus doubling over, a tightness taking over his chest, causing him to be short of breath. He groaned, rubbing his sternum heavily, through heavy lids he looked up at Gabriela, his eyes flashing Moony's ethereal green. What was usually a momentary flash was turning into an extended and painful episode. In an instant Gabriela was kneeling, her hands cupping Remus' face as his body grappled to fight back. "Moony, _no_! I'm fine. He's your _friend_ … even if he doesn't act like it." Remus coughed, struggling to get air. "I said, _STOP_!"

Remus gasped, his eyes turning back into his honey shade, as he clutched at the stitch in his chest. "For fuck's sake!"

"I think we should mention, he is _wildly_ protective of her, if that makes any difference," James quipped, managing to find his voice amidst the chaos. "Also, he licked my leg. He's not going to acquire a taste for my flesh, is he?"

The werewolf was still panting when he chuckled at James' expense. "Yes, he says he enjoyed the taste of your virgin skin." His eyes locked with Gabriela's and he nodded at her. "I take it back." His three best friends looked surprised at this. "He was about to kill the both of us because she was _crying_. That's not a monster, it's a lover with no self-control." He pointed at her. "Is she why I don't feel like shit?"

"You spent half the night fetching a quaffle with Sirius, and the rest curled up in bed with her. I've seen pygmy puffs more vicious than you. It was like she spoke your language, and everything up until then had just been bad translations."

"I don't understand how this happened."

Sirius laughed. "Yeah, well, welcome to the club." Stretching out languidly and throwing his arms around both James' and Peter's shoulders, he sighed. "Let's have a wash and open presents."

They had all showered, changed and tore into their presents, vowing to keep them until Boxing Day so they could enjoy them without the ominous moon, looming ahead, taunting them. After they had exchanged gifts James went off with Lily to Hogsmeade and Peter and Sirius said they had to go to Zonko's for supplies. Remus put away his new jumper and books and watched Gabriela on Sirius' bed, leafing through a new book on the practical application of Astrology she had gotten from James.

"I think I'm heading to Three Broomsticks. What are you up to?" He asked softly, lowering himself to be at eye level with her.

She turned the page, using her finger to keep her place when she looked up at him. "Sensibly, I should be making sure you don't get hammered again."

"Wanna get hammered with me?" He asked before he could stop himself. "No! I just… er… I- I mean, do you want to go to Hogsmeade with me?"

She laughed, the action making her whole body shake. "I don't drink whiskey, but I'm partial to tequila," she joked.


	9. Village

The road to Hogsmeade was not crowded, since it was winter holiday, and for the most part of the twenty-minute walk, the only thing that could be heard was the shuffling through the slushy snow. They were still tension between them, and the silence felt heavy between them, neither knowing exactly how to move from the relationship hole they had fallen into. Remus opened and closed his mouth several times in an attempt to start light conversation, but found he had nothing to say that might take the edge off of his previous anger and mistrust. He didn't know what else there was to say. He was still turning the events, or what he could remember of them, over in his mind. Glancing over to his right, he stared at a bundled-up Gabriela fidget in her heavy coat over her wings. It clearly wasn't comfortable but cutting vents would defeat the purpose of the coat. With a dry laugh, he threw his arm over her shoulders, pulling her close and kissing the top of her head, reveling at the warmth of her arms wrapping around his midsection as they marched, even as she kept struggling from getting stuck in the deep snow.

Remus chuckled, pulling her out a particularly deep pit where the snow had reached her knees. "Remember last year, during break, when we had that huge snowball fight on the grounds," he commented lowly, arm still slung around her as they neared the entrance to the village.

Gabriela smiled, bouncing a bit around as she remembered the encounter. "Sirius managed to bury Lily under about three feet of snow."

"And James didn't realize it until we were back at the castle!" He finished with a laugh.

"Lily got a hell of flu because of that!" She was now walking backwards, his hand, instead, clasped in hers, facing him as she did so. "I remember you hung me off the spear of that statue in the front grounds! I ripped my coat!"

"Only because you kept throwing tripping jinxes at me, so I'd land face-first in the mushy snow." He pouted as he said this, his tone in mock hurt.

"The objective was to defeat the enemy. You were the enemy!" Her grin spread on her face. "Regardless of how adorable you attempt to be."

Remus' face burned bright red, and not from the frigid wind. "Honeydukes?" He asked, trying to deflect the situation. With a positive nod, they shuffled into the shop and pulled down all manner of sweets. "Do you want chocolate frogs?"

"Yeah. That'd be nice." Remus reached over her and grabbed a handful of frogs for her, while Gabriela strained to get something off the top shelf.

"Here, let me. Atomic cherries, right?" She nodded. They had fallen back into their easy routine, the same way they had done for the past six years. He reached up from behind her. He had one hand on her shoulder and the other was reaching up to the bright pink box with her favorite candy in it. For a second, he swore that his brain was purposefully making him linger beside her of its own volition. "Here you go." His mouth had gone dry and as a result, his voice came out in a hoarse whisper. Remus stepped back before he did anything that he might regret later, making his way to the counter, to pay for both his and her stuff.

"Every bloody time. Lupin, I can pay for my own hecking stuff." Remus chuckled, relieved to momentarily see the Gabriela who didn't swear and basically had the vocabulary of a repressed eighty-year-old alive and well.

"You can also, in theory, follow basic instructions, but that doesn't seem to ever happen, either." He rolled his eyes, leveling his stare with a raised eyebrow, which caused her to smile uneasily.

"I follow those that I deem not utterly rubbish." She replied, trying to push a galleon into his pocket.

"If you try to do that, I will fucking have your fingers in a jar," his easy-going tone was quite the antithesis of the severity of his words.

"You really are quite foul-mouthed, Remus," she muttered, tossing a chocolate galleon into her mouth, annoyed that she couldn't slip the money in his pocket, probably due to a charm.

"I don't know, I rather think it's a charming character quirk, don't you?" His deadpan delivery earned him a shove. "Seriously, I don't want your money." His tone held a gentle finality and with an exasperated sigh, she returned the money back into her own pocket. She would repay him with a butterbeer or a treat from Zonko's. "You ready to go?"

She nodded, leading the way back to the cobblestone path. The silence was amicable as they walked towards the Three Broomsticks. Gabriela was popping Atomic Cherries into her mouth, causing Remus to shake his head in disbelief as he continued listening amusedly at the frankly violent popping in her mouth.

"I can't believe Remus is still hanging out with that demented magpie!" The hushed voices of some Hufflepuff girls did not escape either of them. Although, while Remus chose to ignore the prats and whatever horrid things they were whispering, Gabriela looked absolutely livid and was half a step away from an attack. "I know, she's so hideous! And did you see how she just dumped Parker Crow like that? I mean, it was Parker Crow!"

Gabriela gave Remus a significant look, and with a sigh, he conceded. "Yes, I know, you were right. I got the better half of the monster bargain." Although she wanted to contest his use of _monster_ , she was still more concerned with the urge to pummel the girls into a fine pulp. "I know what you're thinking, and no." She sighed heavily, and a frown appearing on her face, that caused Remus to stop in his tracks. "Wait here."

He smiled pleasantly as he approached the posse, his hands locked behind him. "Hi, just a quick word, girls." He leaned in, charming as ever, drawing them in like moths to a flame. "If you lot dare call my friend anything derogatory ever again, it'll be the last thing you ever do. M'kay? Cheers!"

"We could report you for that!" One of them spat back.

With a sadistic smile, he replied, as he walked backwards away from them. "A prefect threatening a student— who would ever believe you?" He offered Gabriela his hand and they finished their journey to the pub a few minutes later.

"That was rather dark, Remus." The Ravenclaw remarked.

"I am all out of fucks to give today, Gabs. I really am." Remus held the door of the pub open for her and scurried through closely behind. He hopped onto the stool next to her, where she sat at the bar.

"What can I get you, dears?" Madam Rosmerta asked, leaning casually over the counter, a kindly smile on her face. "Firewhiskey, Remus?"

Remus grimaced, trying to push away the memories of the Firewhiskey and heaved a heavy sigh. "No, thank you, Rosmerta. A butterbeer will be just fine."

"And for you, darling?"

Gabriela bit her lip while she pondered about what to order. She looked over the bottles behind the counter with a smile. "I'll have a 'Blood of the Innocent'."

"Be right back with that, dears."

Distractedly, Remus watched Gabriela fiddle with the napkin on the bar top, watching her fold it over and over until a general shape began to form. Rosmerta placed their drinks in front of them with a smile. Gabby, leaned over, concentrated on her folding to drink deeply from the straw in the glass.

"Hey, take it easy with that! You're supposed to be making sure I don't get drunk!" Remus reminded her of the oath she had taken that morning.

"Exactly. If I get drunk you're morally obligated to not get drunk so I can get back safely to the dorm. Now do you see my impressive logic?"

Remus was silent for a moment. "So, what you're saying is, that you get to have all the fun while I get to baby-sit you?"

"Well, it's not as if this whole year hasn't just been you doing exactly that." Gabriela's cheeky grin forced a scowl from Remus, but that was quickly solved.

Remus turned back to the counter and with a charming smile beckoned Madam Rosmerta. "Rose, could you pass the Firewhiskey bottle?"

"Are you sure, Remus? Last time you had a couple of drinks you went a little over-board."

"Oh, I'm positive!"

Half an hour, a quarter bottle of Firewhiskey and four Blood of the Innocent later, Sirius had joined them at the tavern. Remus was trying his hardest to keep himself on the stool and Gabriela had turned into a bubbly, friendly figure, picking up random conversations with every passerby. She was now in Sirius' lap, nursing a drink in her left hand, while her right was wrapped around his hair. "You know, Sirius, your hair is lovely. I mean, it's so shiny and soft and it smells like berries."

His barking laughter filled the pub. "Ok, I think you should stop drinking now."

"No! I just want a couple more. They taste delicious." She hopped off of Sirius with incredible grace, even though she was quite drunk and hopped on Remus, whom immediately tensed and uttered a string of incoherent thoughts. "Remus, do you have any more chocolate?" He rummaged through his pockets until he found a very melty bar of Honeyduke's dark, which she promptly snatched away with a huge grin on her face. Happily, she clambered off the long-limbed man and pirouetted away, choosing a nearby booth as her with the chocolate in her hand and sank into a nearby booth. Sirius slunk towards Remus and patted him on the back.

"Explain to me again why you got her drunk?" His voice was amused, and that devilish grin didn't help much in making Remus feel any better.

"I did not get her drunk. She did that herself." He groaned, taking another swig from a glass of Firewhiskey he now had in his hands.

Sirius grinned, leaning the stool back on its two back legs. "So, Remus, there wouldn't happen to be any truth in the rumor that three Hufflepuffs received death threats from the friendly neighborhood Moony, would there?"

His friend had the good sense to look contrite, a guilty smile wolfishly stretching over his lips. "It was just that little Huffie tart that stalks me. She's never exactly liked Gabby, even when she wasn't, you know, _all that_ ," he finished, vaguely gesturing towards his friend, now unwrapping the chocolate bar with clumsy fingers.

"And then, you obviously told her you loved her, and all the sexual tension you built this morning ended with you shagging in the pub bathroom, yes?"

"Do you ever think of anything that is not shagging and, or me getting together with Gabriela?"

Sirius lifted his hand slowly, then, with impressive force, swept it across Remus' face, leaving a red mark on his face. "You are an idiot!" Remus opened his mouth to speak but was cut short. "I am only going to say this once, so listen carefully" He dropped his voice substantially. "It is statistically impossible for you two _not_ to end up together. We've all _known this_ since bloody _first year_. She loves you, you love her; your bloody werewolf loves her, and on the best of days, he doesn't even _tolerate_ you." He groaned in exasperation, pointing Remus back in her direction. She had gotten the chocolate open and was gently licking her fingers from the chocolate that had dripped down the digits. "I mean look at her. She's really a good kid and she... she should _really_ stop doing that unless she wants the male population to follow her, looking for the encore." Sirius furrowed his brow.

Remus raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to the side. _Chocolate and Gabriela_. That was a good combination. _Gabriela covered in chocolate_. That was even better. "I honestly can't tell if I'm hungry or horny." he muttered, surprised that the words had actually left the sanctuary of his mind.

The longer haired boy snorted, sipping from his own glass of Firewhiskey. "I mean, if you play your cards right, it can be both."

"Pads, and I say this with love, you are _disgusting_." He chuckled before taking another swig of amber liquid. A burly wizard with long blond hair had slid across the booth from Gabriela, who was blissfully unaware as she dealt with the melted chocolate within the candy wrapper. Remus rolled his eyes, surprised the girl had never gotten into worse trouble before. "Gabs!" He called, watching as the witch looked up, and started at the sight of the man across her.

" _Stranger danger_. Remus, hecking stranger danger!"

Remus whistled, the wizard turning to look at him in challenge. The werewolf simply pointed at his friend and darkly said, "Mine." After a tense few minutes of visual jousting, the stranger shuffled out, leaving the girl to continue licking chocolate off herself. "Gabs, I think you're missing the main issue."

She tilted her head curiously. "Feminism isn't nearly as popular as we thought it was?"

He couldn't contain the bubbling laughter that followed. "Sure, that's as good an explanation as any." He knocked back the remainder of his drink and waved her over. "Let's go home, doll."


	10. Stable

The common room was empty when they stumbled in, and the fire was on its last embers. They collapsed onto the couch, having peeled their snow-sodden coats off and kicked off their boots. Although the night before had not been as bad as it could have, it went without saying that mentally they were exhausted. They sat quietly in a tangle of limbs and jumpers, neither mustering the energy necessary to stoke the fire to keep the cold at bay.

"You still angry?"

Remus chuckled, sinking further into the couch with his eyes closed. "No. Scared, mostly. That was a stupid risk. Probably carefully calculated, but stupid."

" _Carefully Calculated Stupid Risk_ is my middle name," she joked, her legs hanging off the armrest as she dropped her head onto his lap. "My parents had issues," she added, jokingly.

"Oh, but you seem so well-adjusted," he quipped sardonically.

"Pot," she blindly pointed in his general direction, "Kettle," she finished, pointing at herself, unaware or uncaring that her companion had both his head resting back and his eyes closed. She assumed he got the general idea.

"You really weren't scared?"

"No." Her reply was simple. The truth was that even between the Animagi and the werewolf, she never once thought it was a bad idea. "I did my fair share of research beforehand, Remus. You know me." She giggled, recalling the night. "Did you know your fur is actually curled? Even as a werewolf you can't seem to tame your darn hair."

There was more silence. Remus's left hand was twisted into her own black mane, brushing it back away from her forehead to fan over the side of his legs. "So, _listen_ … I love you."

The snort that left her was very unladylike. She felt like she could roll her eyes at him all the way into a new dimension. "I'm aware."

"No, you're not, but I a —wait, _what_?" His head snapped back, looking down at her with a mixture of amusement and fear.

Gabby gave him an _are you kidding_ look, trying her hardest not to offend or send him running to whatever hidey hole he was using, nowadays. "Rem, everyone knows you're in love with me. _Dumbledore_ knows you're in love with me. We've had a fairly detailed conversation about it."

"You never—"

"Of course, I didn't bloody say anything to you about it. Your whole life's purpose is to be eternally miserable and say I deserve more than you. I'm not in the mood to debate how much of an idiot you are, so I just take it as fact." She explained, shortly, grabbing his hand and using it to continue brushing her hair, something he had stopped when she claimed to know of his affections. "You're an idiot."

"Do you—"

"If you even entertain asking that question, I will light your hair on fire. What the _fuck_ do you think?" At his silence, she added. "I certainly haven't been sticking around since first year for the god-awful puns, now have I?"

It could have been the Firewhiskey, or perhaps the utter destruction of everything he had held as truth just a moment ago, but Remus was having a hard time thinking. His mind blasted back, memories rushing past too quick to analyze, in the search of when exactly this had happened and when he decided to ignore it. He had been in love with her the moment she cupped her ink-sodden hands around his face and spoken to the beast as if it were nothing more than a puppy. She had been in love with him when they shared their first kiss that first Christmas when she had gotten stuck under some enchanted mistletoe for two class periods before Remus had gone looking for her. He had been in love with her when in third year, the first holiday they spent in the castle, she surprised him with an inkpot that smelled of chocolate and a scarf that adjusted its warmth depending on how well he was feeling. She had been in love with him in fifth year, when, despite her complaints, he kept and cared for her in his dorm for a week when she had the flu, armed with supplies with Madame Pomfrey. And, also when she returned the favor a week later. He was in love with her when he stopped what might have been a horrible death at her own hands, at the beginning of the year. She was in love with him when she faced his wolf, consequences be damned, head-on the night before. Oh, God, they were in love. They had always been in love. He _was_ an idiot.

"Glad you agree," Gabby commented, a single eyebrow raised in amusement at the statement he had accidentally said out loud.

His face was beetroot red, almost allowing him to blend in with the cushions and disappear. Almost. "You should have told me."

"You weren't ready." With one fluid movement, she swung her legs down from the armrest and sat cross-legged beside him. "And I don't regret not doing it. You're sarcastic, and snappy, and repressed, and foul-mouthed, but you're selfless and loving and ridiculously loyal. It wouldn't have changed anything, except given you more anxiety."

"I'm plenty anxious now, so, don't worry about that." He noted, as he wiped his dewy palms on the legs of his trousers. "Dumbledore? _Really_?"

"He wanted to know why I had sent you a Valentine's anonymously, when it was obvious we were together."

He looked as if she had just dumped a bucket of cold water on him. "Not the motivational fireworks."

"You _were_ very sad that day. I thought chocolates and encouragements would help."

"I shot Sirius with an irreversible Jelly-legs jinx for that. I thought he was trying to be a prat and embarrass me," he groaned, ruffling his curls nervously.

She giggled, her eyes sparkling with the memory. "Yeah. That was _brilliant_."

He opened and closed his mouth, looking like a fish on the bank rather than a confused teenager. When his light amber eyes stopped to take her in, they sparkled with amusement. Last Valentine's had been the funniest in recent history. Every time Remus said something in class, or correctly cast a spell, the fireworks would erupt around him, showering him with chocolates, rather than colored sparks. Coupled with the fact that Sirius had to quite literally drag himself from class to class (at one point getting to Potions just as the period was over), due to the jinx he had outright refused to reverse, there had not been any shortage of laughter that day. "Fuck, I _love_ you," his tone betraying the awe he felt for the girl he was staring at.

"Oh, thank fucking Merlin! If I had to watch the _will they, won't they_ dance _one… more… time_ , I was going to shag one of you, just to ruin your lives. I wasn't even picky about which one." Sirius exclaimed, dramatically, as he crawled into the portrait hole with Peter in tow, who was snickering. "I'll take an apology for that jelly-legs jinx, now, Lupin!"

"What, _this_ jelly-legs jinx?" He asked, casually, his wand gently twitching in his hand, followed by the immediate thump of Sirius' body on the floor and a maelstrom of cussing. The group fell into raucous laughter as they watched the heir of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black drag himself to an armchair, his legs jiggling gelatinously after him.

"Moony, you absolute wanker!"

The portrait hole had opened once more, and a stern-looking Minerva McGonagall stepped inside. Remus shuffled in his seat, shoving Gabriela behind him while Peter threw himself into the seat beside him to cover the rest of her body. They all glanced at each other awkwardly as their Head of House paced the common room. It was an uncommon occurrence. "Mister Black, I will disregard your foul language on the basis that we are on break and seem to have fallen prey to Mister Lupin's jelly-legs jinx once again. Mister Lupin, I will disregard any part you took in the curse, as I was not here to presence it," she began, her tone rather bored, as if this was not the first time she had given the infamous Marauders a rundown of their crimes. "However, I do advise against suffocating Miss Lively behind you, as it will probably harm your chances of ever getting a date with her, more than they already are."

"Oh, Minnie, you saucy savage," Sirius barked out in laughter from his position in the armchair, looking at the professor with a admiration.

The older witch chose to ignore his comment as part of the "It's the Holidays" forgiveness package. "Miss Lively, if you will." Gabby popped out from behind Remus, a handful of black feathers caught in the crosswinds of her movement and steadily floating to the ground where they became piles of soot. "Your father wanted to send word that he had a spot of bother with some Death Eaters when he was returning from Ireland, but that he is fine. They seem very interested in your condition, so be careful when you go out to the village on the weekends."

Gabriela, was flush against Remus' back, an arm hanging on either side of his head and her chin resting on his crown. Altogether, they looked like a funny, winged totem pole. "Yes, Professor. Anything else?" She asked, reluctantly.

"Oh, yes, the house elves appreciate you leaving them gifts, but they ask that you stop, whether it be unintentionally or not, trying to free them." They all looked mildly surprised at the calmness in her reaction, considering she knew a student, not from her house, was currently living in a dorm with five boys. "Also, take care of what uniform you are wearing. You spent the whole of last month with Gryffindor robes and a Ravenclaw tie."

"You're not kicking her out?" Peter asked, perplexed.

"Out of a perfectly stable living situation so her dorm mates can harass her? Mister Pettigrew, do be serious. Mister Black, refrain from your comment." Sirius looked a little deflated and proceeded to pout. "Mister Lupin, you were meant to report to Poppy yesterday. You still need your physical. Mr. Pettigrew, if I see you sneaking into Mister Filch's office again, I will give you detention beyond your graduation date."

"Anything for me, Minnie? I'm feeling left out." Sirius commented, partially absorbed with watching his legs jiggle every time he prodded them.

"Other than your parent's weekly letter saying you're a disappointment? No. I've filed them into an album. I intend to send it to them with a copy of your N.E.W.T. scores and your diploma." There was barely a hint of a smile on her face when she said this, but if there was one truth on this Earth, it was that Minerva McGonagall had a soft spot for Sirius Black.

"Thanks, Mum!" He replied with a grin.

Before she could express anything further, the portrait hole opened for the third time, Lily and James scrambling in, lips bruised, hair matter, clothes disheveled, but with panic in their eyes. "Hide Gabby! _Hide Gabby!_ McGon—Professor McGonagall, it's so nice to see you." Lily, corrected, half-way through her tirade, straightening out her shirt and attempting to look presentable.

The witch stared at each of the boys in turn, mouth open in disbelief. "DOES YOUR CORRUPTION KNOW NO BOUNDS!?"

From atop Remus, Gabriela raised her hand, excitedly. "Oooh, I know this one!" Leaving the young werewolf to snatch her hand down while muttering something about the question being rhetorical.


	11. Arson

The furious scratching of quill on parchment was what Gabriela needed on most days to take away from the constant buzzing in her mind. Though, as of late, the noise reduced and amplified in waves, it was therapeutic to listening to the subtle white noise of her writing as she settled in the library for a day of studying. It was a wonderful Saturday morning, the boys were still in bed, and the sunlight streamed through the stained-glass windows, warming the room as Spring's impending arrival warmed the Scottish landscape. All was well.

That was, of course, until someone sat directly across from the winged girl, patiently waiting for her to look up. With a sigh, Gabby dog-eared the page she was reading and rested her quilled hand away from the parchment. As a testament of her progress in controlling her emotion-fueled demonic magic, the girl managed to make direct eye contact with the Hufflepuff sixth year that had called her a demented magpie while at Hogsmeade a few days before. She did, however, offer up a silent prayer that for a mere second Remus could gave a moment of clairvoyance and decide that he absolutely _needs_ to go to the library.

"Hi, _doll_." Gabriela wanted to wretch at her use of the moniker that the boys, and now Lily, for some reason, were so fond of using. "I'm so terribly sorry for the misunderstanding at Hogsmeade over Christmas break. Candace is just _so jealous_ of you." This made the silent girl smirk, knowing the Huffie was willing to throw her friend under the bus (I guess not all of them were diamonds), and waited with baited breath for the rest of her statement as she pulled her hair into a bun with ink-stained hands. "I shouldn't speak ill, but she's always wanted to have wings, but you, like, _pull them off_. She hasn't the shoulders for it, honestly. Anyway, I just wanted to apologize. Also, pass that along to Remus, the poor dear. He didn't have to take time from his holiday to talk to them. I was going to do it myself the second we got back to the common room." She directed a megawatt smile to her silent hostage, who replied with a polite nod of her head, flipping her book open once more to continue with her work. "Speaking of Remus…"

 _Where the heck is that werewolf and his posse when you need them?_ She slammed the book closed once more and sighed.

"Is he seeing anyone at the moment?" The girl, Clark, she thought her name was, was playing with the ends of her hair in an innocent manner. She could see the sparkly varnish on her nails and the tiny CE + RL carefully written in tiny type onto every other one. Gabriela thought she might vomit.

Right eye twitching with the effort to remain calm, she replied in typical Ravenclaw fashion. "I reckon he's still asleep, so, I don't think so."

Clark fake laughed, giggling obnoxiously in an exaggerated manner at the quip. "You're so _funny_." She rather thought that the word _funny_ was dipped in some very potent venom, the way she said it. "You, innocent flower! I meant, is he _dating_ anyone?"

"Uhm… Lupin doesn't really date," she started, noting in her mind that it wasn't exactly a lie. He _hadn't_ dated anyone. "He's more of a ' _I met_ one _girl and fell in love_ ' kind of bloke." Still not a lie. He had met exactly _one female_ in first year and he had promptly decided the quest for a significant other was over. "I mean, there's the odd snog in between, but very rarely." Of course, she didn't have to mention that the odd snogs had _also_ been her. Particularly the first time they were allowed butterbeer at Hogsmeade.

The Hufflepuff's heart melted. "That is so cute. I bet he's told you all about it. You seem like such great friends."

"Hey. 'Morning, doll." Remus' voice emerged from the stacks behind the table, as he strode, still in his pajamas and sleep clearly still clinging onto every fiber of his being, towards Gabriela. "Bed empty, no note; all to saunter off to study without me, eh?" His fingers tangled into her hair, gently cradling her head in his hands and kissed the top of her head affectionately. Gabriela was still staring at the other girl across the table.

"I couldn't bare waking you," she said with a smile, remembering how the man had been face-down, sprawled out at odd angles on the bed, mumbling in his sleep. "Why are you here _now_ , though?" She asked, finally looking away from Clark to stare at Remus and his tussled blond hair with curiosity.

He rubbed his sternum absent-mindedly as he sidled onto the bench beside her. "The… er… _furry little problem_ woke me up rather insistently. I just wound up here."

"Sleepover? Fun! I love a good pajama party," Clark interjected, leaning forward across the table at Remus, who, Gabriela noticed, was trying very hard not to bat her away with one of Gabby's books. His hands itched over the spine of a particularly heavy Arithmacy tome, toying with the possibility.

"That's… great, Easterling." He replied, forcing a jovial smile on his face before turning back to Gabriela and mouthing _what the fuck?_

Returning a _please help me_ look at him, she announced. "Clark here wanted to extend her condolences for the misunderstanding at Hogsmeade." The girl puffed up with pride, adjusting her clothing while she swooned at the Gryffindor.

"That's delightful. I rather hope it wasn't my warning that was misunderstood. I hope _that part_ remains crystal clear." His tone was still friendly, but the Hufflepuff's charisma fell a bit. "Let's get breakfast," he murmured to girl at his side, playfully shoving her, causing a smile to blossom on her face.

"I need to finish my homework, so we can study for N.E.W.T.s, you sod."

Remus groaned turning it into a whine as he pressed his forehead to her temple. "Counter-offer. We grab breakfast to take to the dorm, we wake the others and then we study for tests, together." She opened her mouth to protest, but Remus took the opportunity to tilt her chin towards him and press his lips on hers with an easy smile. Gabriela rolled her eyes at his tactics, but kissed him all the same, noting that his hands were around her waist and pulling her closer to him with a grin. "Don't make me beg. You know I'll do it," he said in a low voice, which almost made her snort. Now, he was laying it on a little thick. Gabby could count on one hand the amount of times they had kissed outside of small pecks and smooches up in the dorm, knowing that neither of them was fond of any public displays of affection. His lips pressed on a spot on her neck that, for some reason, made her want to set everything around them on fire, and she didn't care if the castle went down in flames. Remus pulled back rather quickly, a smirk tugging at the left corner of his mouth as he moistened his lips with his tongue, hand rubbing his sternum once more.

"Fine," she conceded, if a little shaken by the odd turn the conversation had taken. "It's been a pleasure talking to you, Clark, but we've got plans, it seems. _Boys_ ," she commented, a little condescendingly, as she threw her things into her schoolbag, which Remus gladly took, and left the confused -and a little miffed- Clark Easterling to stare confusedly at the spot where the pair had just been. "You are a terrible human being, Remus John Lupin," she hissed as the pair entered the hallway, hand-in-hand.

He hummed briefly, as if musing. "Charming character quirk?" He asked, hopeful smile etched on his face.

"Awful. Just, fracking awful." She laughed, despite herself. "How'd you know where I was?"

"I told you. Moony was _very_ insistent. I don't know how he knew it, but he did." Remus replied, distracted, as they turned down an unfamiliar corridor.

"This isn't the way to the Great Hall _or_ the kitchens, Rem."

The boy just grinned broadly. "Oh, I know," he conceded as he opened a door behind him and pulled her in with a giggling squeal. Before he had even slammed the door of the unused classroom shut, he had clamped his mouth over the spot he found earlier. The two would find out, shortly after, that Hogwarts had six scroll-long forms for incident reports regarding fires. Forms they had to fill out in disheveled, singed clothing, and impish smiles on their faces.

They wished that were where the accidental arson ended. "Gabs, my robes! Really?" James muttered, as he patted the remaining smoldering bits of his robes, leaving a galleon-sized hole in them.

"I know. I'm sorry! Nightmare!" She replied, her wand flicking carefully at James' robes to repair the damage. It was the middle of the night and all the occupants had woken up to the whole dorm room shaking before bits and pieces began catching on fire.

"This is the third time in a fortnight. What is up with you?" Sirius asked, finally managing to put the flames out on his pillow.

Gabriela shrugged, unaware of Remus putting out the flames of several feathers behind her. "I'm not sure. My waking control is aces now, but when I sleep it's like I can't keep my magic asleep."

"So, sleeping and shagging in empty classrooms. Is that pretty much when it goes awry?" He countered, a wicked smile on his face.

"That was a one-time accident!" Remus exclaimed, blushing a violent shade of red.

"You got the whole of the third-floor west corridor forbidden!"

"We put _most_ of it out!" Gabriela muttered, thinking it had been a bit of a dramatic measure to forbid a part of the castle no one went into, anyway. "Maybe I should just sleep in the Shack." She mumbled, pouting severely despite the fact that Remus was affectionately smoothing back her hair and mumbling sweet nothings into her ear.

James made an impatient noise. "Oh, come on, Gabs. It's not that bad. We just need to find out what's causing the impromptu barbeques and we can stop them. Until then, maybe we go to Madame Pomfrey for some dreamless sleeping draught for you."

The sleeping draught, however, had not helped. Instead of having a girl that would light things up in nightmares and would stop once awake or the nightmare ended, they spent a night dealing with irrepressible, uncontrollable amounts of magic coming from an entity that could not be woken up. After a particularly active night, Gabriela found herself stuffing some of her clothes and some blankets into a rucksack and marching towards the Shrieking Shack before any of the boys had the opportunity to protest. To her surprise, although it shouldn't really surprise her, Remus had already been there most of the afternoon, fixing up the bedroom and laying down additional wards to protect against her accidents.

"Remus, what are you doing here?" She asked, putting her bag down, and admiring the straightened posters on the bed, the repaired curtains and the layers of warm, fluffy sheets packed on top of it. As much as she wanted to _sound_ exasperated, she was secretly pleased that Remus had seen through her thinly-veiled excuses throughout the day. Even though there was nothing inherently haunting about the Shrieking Shack (other than the young werewolf, once a month), it gave her the creeps to remain alone in the building.

"Well, I have this friend— cute as a button— who's been spending _way_ too much time with Sirius developing a flair for the overly-dramatic and ran away from home." He replied, stepping back from his handy work, and smirking in her direction. "You honestly think I would ever let you stay in here _alone_? The lads were livid that you were even _considering_ this. Peter was near tears!"

Gabriela frowned, sadly. If she knew anything about the boys, they were probably feeling betrayed that she thought they couldn't handle her and her bouts of accidental, sleep-laden magic. There was never a challenge that they backed down from, and she was basically just taking the challenge away from them. It was, in their odd Marauder minds, an unfair decision. "I'm sorry. I was thinking about their welfare in the tower. I mean, if that dorm room starts burning, we'd never get out of there alive. So, I'm just thinking about the safety hazard, not the boy's ability to handle all this bullspit."

His smile was so wide it crinkled his eyes, clearly amused by her analysis and the fact that her vocabulary now lived either in the realm of a rambunctious elderly woman or sailor on shore for leave. There was no in between. "Good. Because they already brought their stuff over. They're getting us all dinner and will be back at sundown."

She chuckled, rolling her eyes good-naturedly. "Of course, they are. Why wouldn't they be?"

"So, until then," he began, a glimmer in his eyes causing Gabriela to look at him apprehensively. "Fancy a shower?"

Her small nose furrowed at the suggestion. "Do I _need_ a shower? Is there a sulfur and brimstone quality about me right now?" She inhaled deeply, not noting anything odd other than her vanilla-scented lotion, but she could be wrong.

Remus laughed, closing the space between them and embracing her. "I think you smell _fantastic_." His hands rubbed up and down the length of her arms, and his eyes darted from her eyes to her lips every few seconds.

"Oh. _Oh!_ " She struggled for words for a few seconds before deciding that kissing him was a better use for her time.

Not long after, Sirius, James and Peter shuffled into the trapdoor, under the shack, finding Remus and Gabriela sitting at the chairs around the kitchen table, giggling like children, covered in heavy blankets. They were both sopping wet, their hair plastered to their head, mostly because they had forgotten to bring any towels, but partly because they had not had much time to escape the bathroom after the pipe had burst and they had run into the room to retrieve their wands.

"What did you do?" Peter asked, eyeing Gabriela suspiciously, her teeth chattering and her wings drooping, waterlogged. His eyes switched to Remus, who, like a good Marauder was sitting back, calmly, with a certain swagger that bespoke of his deeds. He also noted that his friend had a long, angry red burn running up his arm towards his shoulder.

"There's only a cold tap on the shower, by the way," Remus commented, all of a sudden interested in his nails, before Gabby sneezed, and her blanket caught fire.

The "demonic sniffles", a term affectionately coined by Sirius, was, apparently, the second step to the fire-engulfing nightmare that had become the friends' lives. It had started during Transfiguration. While they practiced turning animate objects in other animate objects, a rogue sneeze had accidentally lit the tail of the cat-form instructor on fire. Although the older teacher continuously assured Lively that it was an accident and that it was fine, there was a certain degree of annoyance when she had inspected the smoldering section at the back of her robes. For the safety for the class, she was asked to refrain to from practicing spells, in case she started sneezing again.

Sniffles devolved into bizarre activity a few days later when, during Defense, they were asked to review the Patronus charm for their upcoming N.E.W.T. examination. The boys had had no issue with calling their Patronuses, the animals bouncing around in the air above, inspecting the emerging forms of other student's protectors as they were called forth from the ether. Gabriela had only ever conjured a full-form Patronus once. It had been a little runt of a wolf, a cub, who had animatedly chased after Remus' own wolf, as if recognizing its sibling. Concentrating on a happy memory, she pointed her wand up in the air and exclaimed, " _Expecto Patronum_!" What came out of her wand was not the silvery, fluid-like substance she was expecting, but a thick, black smog. The smog formed an amorphous blob with shining red eyes that went around eating the other Patronuses with a wide, misshapen mouth. She dropped her wand in terror just as Sirius fell into a fit of bark-like laughter at seeing the giant demon leave nothing but a lone wolf Patronus roaming the air above them.

"It really wasn't that bad, Gabs," James insisted, for the seventh time, as they walked towards the Great Hall for lunch.

"I set a demon onto everyone's Patronus, James!" She shrieked back, exasperated. "It _ate_ them!"

"It's not like you meant for it to happen," Peter added, trying to find a silver lining.

Gabriela swayed, prompting the others to stop their walking. James grabbed hold of her arm to steady her, his eyes locked in on the dark bags under her eyes and sallow face that had not been there this morning. "You with us, Gab?" Before he could finish his question in earnest, her legs gave out from under her, knees buckling, leaving James hanging onto her arm, as he gently lowered her to the floor. "I'm going to Madame Pomfrey, you go get Sirius and Remus!"

The hospital wing was far too quiet for their liking. The ominous dripping of potions, coupled with the occasional shuffle of the nurse looking for supplies made their hair stand on end. It was never good when a trip here was reduced to a waiting game. Remus sat next to Gabriela's bed, watching the girl as she lay there, motionless. When she passed out, her magic had once again gone crazy; random objects exploding, beds catching on fire, chairs shaking. The nurse had no choice but to place the girl into a state of stasis. She was hibernating, or so it had been explained. It seemed to Remus that she looked far too close to being dead. He shuddered, remembering when Gabby's mother had died. He attended the funeral with her because he knew that she would not want to face it alone. He remembered her body's vaguely waxy complexion as she lay in the casket. Gabby had been the spitting image of her mother.

"What's the news, mate?" Sirius asked, quietly for once, as he entered the infirmary.

Remus cleared his throat, the knot in his windpipe shifting, but not going away. "Er… Poppy's not sure what's going on. This isn't exactly run-of-the-mill magic. She's looking into it, but she had to put her into like a hibernation." He sniffled, his hand reaching over to hold hers. "She… um, said that she might wake her up once a week until N.E.W.T.s and then until she figures it out."

Sirius sputtered, outrage about the news clear in his face. " _N.E.W.T.s?_ Those are ages away! She doesn't think she'll have a solution by then!?" His ire reduced once he saw his best friend break down into tears. "Shit, I'm sorry, Remus." His voice had softened, and he took a seat on the next bed over, patting the werewolf on the back.

"What the fuck have we missed? We've read every book in the library. We've asked everyone we could think of." His voice was tight, and he was trying the hardest he could to keep the reaction he wanted to have, destroying half the Hospital wing, under control. It wasn't easy when Moony was just as restless and upset as he was. "This isn't even her _fucking_ fault! It wasn't even her goddamn mistake. _FUCK!_ "

Black hopped from the bed, wrapping an arm around Remus' shoulders as he sobbed, his own eyes tearing up. "I know, mate. I know."


	12. Breadcrumbs

Their routine had changed once more. They would have breakfast around Gabriela's bed, combing through whatever remaining books they could scrounge up from the library. They had moved on from strictly demonic magic into elemental magic and potent curses. They had come up with zero explanations for why this was happening. They would come into the infirmary intermittently throughout the day in between classes and sit with their friend and read until they had to go back to attend their responsibilities. Remus would come up after his evening classes ended and spend the night, much to the Medi-witch's dismay. Lily, upon seeing James' dedication and maturity about doing whatever was humanly possible for him to help his friend, had finally accepted that they were, indeed, an item. The fiery redhead would often join them at the wing, reading through passages and dog-earing pages that might be relevant to their search.

When Gabriela blinked awake the following Sunday, it was Lily who greeted her with a wide smile. She carefully marked her page and set the book down beside her, before leaning closer from her spot in the chair next to the bed. "Hi, doll. The boys will be along in a minute. They're getting some more books from the library."

The girl managed a smile, though her body ached and trembled as it re-learned how to move. "Hi, Lily. How are you?"

"I'm doing lovely." She gently brushed some of the girl's dark hair away from her eyes. "Do you feel up to going to the village for a while? Dumbledore's given us special permission."

"Well, look at who decided to greet the morning. I swear, you've been asleep for, like, a week." James quipped, walking in with Sirius, Remus and Peter, in tow, laden with about a dozen giant books.

"Hilarious as always, Jay," she replied, rolling her eyes as she shakily sat up in bed, wings drawn tightly behind her. "What's all that?"

"The answer to our current problems. I think we've just been looking in the wrong place." James replied, waving it off as if it were something minor. "Don't mind us. You go with Remus and gallivant around town or whatever it is you whippersnappers do when you're not defacing public property with your sexual escapades."

"One time, Prongs." Remus interjected, narrowing his light amber eyes at his friend.

"The shack?"

"Two times, Prongs."

"Two times more than James's slept with _anyone_ , so he shouldn't talk," Lily quipped, winking in Gabby's direction and ignoring a sputtering James and raucously laughing Sirius and Peter.

Gabriela giggled, taking Lily's hand and looking at Remus with hopeful eyes. "Can we keep her?"

"As you wish," he replied, bending down at the waist to kiss her and murmur how he had missed her in her ear. "You want me to get Madame Pomfrey or something?"

"Remus, just let the poor girl get changed and take her to town. She doesn't need to stick around for longer than she has to." Sirius exclaimed, annoyed. He had picked up one of the books and sat back in a cot to leaf through it.

"No, I want to stay and help," Gabriela whined, reaching towards a small stack of books at the end of her bed. "I read faster than you lot, anyway."

"Gabs, honestly—"

"No, she's right. She does read faster." Remus agreed, earning him a sharp look from the rest of the group. "Look, I know you guys wanted us to go out and have fun, but I'd rather cut the waiting period short. I'm not on board with a life where I get to see a person I care for once a week. Trust me, having her is like having three extra Peters who don't get distracted by moths."

"They're so intricate!" Peter defended, and by the time the laughter had died Gabriela had treated herself to five separate books, reaching for her wand on the bedside table to simultaneously search through them.

It had been hours. The whole day, actually, and though they had eaten and stood up to stretch and regain clarity, the group was getting stir crazy and dizzy from all the books. Lily had curled herself into a ball, falling asleep with a book haphazardly clutched in her hand. Sirius and Peter had taken a break and were playing exploding snap, while James, tried using new search spells on the ancient texts. Remus and Gabriela were sitting in the middle of her bed, back to back, each with a group of books at their reach, jumping from one to another as they ran down a list of topics to search.

A weird sensation permeated her skin. It started at her scalp and dripped all the way down to her toes, and she reached back with her right arm to clutch at Remus. "Get off the bed, please. Take the books."

With a scuffle, he hopped off the cot, nervously collecting books, while simultaneously marking pages where he had read last. "What's going on? Gabs!" The panic in his voice raised alarm with the boys, who immediately stopped what they were doing, and stood up, wands at the ready.

The girl began shaking, and then jerking violently as if in a fit. Forgetting his carefully laid out system, Remus opted for pushing all the books off the bed and getting his girlfriend down in a laying position. He noticed that her eyes kept flashing from their normal green to the obsidian black that accompanied her random bursts of inflammatory magic. He opted to ignore the shuffling of the wolf inside him, telling him to fix the situation that he had no idea how to fix. No one had dared move in panic, all of them nervous as to whether they would need to shield themselves or to call for the nurse to put an end to this occurrence and put her under once more. Gabriela fisted the front of Remus' Gryffindor jumper, tugging him towards her with a shaky grip. "Tracking spells… calling cards… assassins." She muttered, incoherently. "Hell-hounds… loyalties… curse killing curse." She continued, before she forcefully shoved him back and shrieked. Her back arched off of the bed, and her body rose, riding on an invisible force, until the tips of her wings were barely in contact with the bed, and a wildfire of blue flame enveloped her body, encasing it in deadly fire, though it remained perfectly intact.

" _POPPY!_ " Remus yelled, though Sirius and Peter had already run towards the nurse's quarters and were knocking so loudly they were sure the door would break down. The nurse shuffled out seconds later, stopping in terror for a full ten seconds before her instinct kicked in, and with a few complicated wand movements, she had returned the girl to stasis. Lily, who had woken up to find a fellow student levitating off the bed and _on fire_ , had to pull Remus away from a working Madame Pomfrey, and look into the nurse's stores for a potion to treat his shock.

The group was excused from classes the next day. A concerned Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, and Filius Flitwick had noted that the crew were too confused by what they have seen to be productive, especially now that they tip-toed around the girl in her bed, as if she were a particularly fragile china doll.

"Mister Lupin?" The Transfiguration professor asked, delicately, waiting for the man to rip his eyes away from the air where his friend had been hanging a few hours prior, to look at his head of house.

"Yes, Professors."

"We've sent an owl to Miss Lively's father, updating him on the situation. He will be here tomorrow, if you wish to see him."

"Thank you, ma'am. James and Sirius will probably want to be there, as well. They've known her even longer than I have." He managed to reply, though his throat was raw and his nerves were shot. "It would be good for him to know we've all been watching out for her."

"You speak of her as if she's already passed," professor Dumbledore commented, his eyes twinkling over his half-moon glasses. "My boy, I do believe that with friends as diligent as you," he added, gesturing to the piles of books they had been stealing out of the library for months, "she will be just fine in no time, at all."

"Is there any particular reason Miss Lively elected to live in the Gryffindor dorms, this year? I was just informed her bed has been empty since the beginning of term," Professor Flitwick asked. He was a relatively new professor, and still learning the ropes of being head of house. However, he was oblivious to the eat-or-be-eaten mentality that permeated through much of his house. They wanted to learn, not possibly get murdered by a random demonic curse in the middle of the night.

Remus scoffed. " _Why_?" He asked disbelievingly. "Because _your lot_ are _twats_." He finished, gesturing to the professor briefly before chuckling incredulously. "Only the Quidditch team was on speaking terms with her this year. The rest decided she could fuck off." The professors stared at Lupin with surprised expressions. They had never heard Remus cuss, though he famously had the vocabulary of a sailor on leave, among his friends. "House elves had to go fetch her things because the knocker to the common room refused to appear. We were the only place she had to go _since the beginning of the year_. I'm not telling you how to do your job, but I think you need to have a word with those—"

"Mister Lupin…"

" _Wankers._ "

" _Remus_ ," McGonagall said, warningly, and the werewolf snapped his mouth shut. Minerva McGonagall never called a student by their first name unless there was going to be some drama.

"Sorry, ma'am. Did that answer your question, professor?"

"Answered several, thank you."

"You're very welcome," he replied, sardonically, fake smile plastered on his face. Professor Flitwick and Dumbledore nodded politely in his direction and shuffled out, leaving Remus to look at McGonagall with curiosity. "Anything else?"

McGonagall's face was line with concern. "Have you been eating, Remus?"

He smiled, the action not quite reaching his eyes. "When I remember."

Out of the pocket of her robes the witch fished a five-pack of Honeyduke's dark chocolate almond bars and pressed them into the boy's hand with a conspiratorial wink. "Make sure you have an actual meal now and again, Remus. You, wasting away won't do Miss Lively any good. Although, maybe then you'll set less things on fire."

She left the young wizard to his smirk, opening one of the candy bars and taking a square of chocolate before rummaging in his bag for a quill, ink and parchment. In a neat column he wrote out the terms Gabriela had told him: 1) tracking spells, 2) calling cards, 3) assassins, 4) hell-hounds, 5) loyalties, 6) curse killing curse. The list was mostly unremarkable. All these points would have hundreds, if not thousands of entries in the books they had read. All, except, hell-hounds. With a flick of his wand, he levitated all of the books he had been inspecting with Gabriela and stacked them in front of him. Carefully inspecting the spines, he noted the one titled " _Hell Beasts and Beyond_." It seemed like a good enough place to start.


	13. Solutions

A plate of turkey, roasted potatoes, gravy and a few rolls were dropped unceremoniously in front of Remus. He looked up from his reading at the library to see a smiling James and Lily sliding into the seats in front of him. "Eat. You skipped breakfast _and_ lunch. I'm surprised you haven't collapsed yet."

"Hell beasts?" Lily remarked, tilting her head to read the askew title on the book cover. "It's a rather vast topic, Remus." Biting into a roll, he nodded, helpless expression in his eyes. "I mean, there's the flying demons; minor demons; water snakes; the Grim, werewolves and other hell-hounds, it's practically an encyclopedia of knowledge to dive into."

Remus looked up, startled, swallowing against the lump of bread in his throat so he could ask a question. "Lily, go back a tic. You said Grim, werewolves, and other hell-hounds? Like, as a group?" He took a forkful of potatoes as Lily rested her elbows on the table, trying to dredge up the knowledge in her head.

"Yeah, they used to be all classified together, way back when. The Grim were the major hounds, and werewolves descended from the mixture of a hound soul with a human soul – not that I think that you're a hellion; yes, I know, no, James didn't tell me—and, then there's other minor hounds." Her voice was quiet, but Remus was so absorbed that even if it had been below a whisper, he would have heard it. "I read it in," she sorted through the towers of books beside him, before pulling one with a well-oiled, black leather cover, "this book. There's loads of information."

"If he ever does anything stupid to you, let me know, and I will murder him for you," he replied, opening the book to the table of contents and skimming to the chapters he thought most appropriate. He opted to ignore the dirty look his best friend was directing at him over his slightly askew glasses. "Lily, you are a genius!"

"Well, you're just stating the obvious there, Remus."

The pair ruffled his hair as they went off. Remus was asbsorbed in his reading, eating with his non-dominant hand, as his dominant hand scribbled notes from the chapter. The opening lines had granted him more inner peace than the last six months of reading had. The chapter began, " _Hell hounds are considered the first assassins for hire in the magical world_."

"Well, Moony, if you didn't go on dramatic exponential tangents half-way through, we wouldn't be lost!" Sirius, erupted, slamming his fist noisily on the desk as he tugged on his long, black hair in frustration. " _Calmly_ , and clearly explain what the fuck is going on."

They had been sitting in an empty classroom on the first floor, that once upon a time had been used to be a theory classroom for Astronomy but had been abandoned to the spiders and bugs. James, Lily, Peter and Sirius sat on dust-laden tables in front of Remus, who had written the same word eight different times on the blackboard and expected the idea to somehow make sense. The word had been _curse_.

Remus breathed deeply, before proceeding. He had connected most of the dots that Gabriela had left for them, but he needed help to find the missing link. Considering his elusive schedule and inability to speak when he was concentrated, he had left his friends mostly in the dark on his journey, leaving them to the mundane tasks of reminding him to eat, shave, and shower. "OK. One more time. Everything is related, it all falls into a circle." He bagn scratching symbols onto the board with chalk, connecting them with small arrows. "Hell-hounds are basically henchmen. They do the bidding of a demon or witch or wizard that summons them. The most common request for them is to murder someone. That makes them very competent assassins. If you were to mark someone for a hell-hound, you would put a tracking curse on them, basically a ticking bomb. It's a signature that the hell-hound can sense, and track." He explained, slowly, making sure to painstakingly write the steps on the board.

He glanced over his shoulder to see the group enraptured, so he assumed he was being clear enough in his explanation. Taking another shuddering breath, he continued. "Now, it's really hard to control a single hound to do all your bidding. They don't like the mortal realm, and they are usually under the control of higher demons, whom they are loyal to. Sometimes, to skirt around this loyalty, witches and wizards of questionable repute, will use a _piece_ of a demon, to call forth a hell-hound, any hell-hound, and put it along with a tracking spell on their victim. In our case, Gabby. Now, after that, it's a waiting game. They have to wait for a hound to be in the vicinity and hear the 'call' so they can kill their victim."

Peter raised his hand, his cheeks blushing when Remus made an exasperated sound and reminded him they weren't _actually_ in class. "How has Gabby survived this long, then?"

"They live in bloody Godric's Hollow. There aren't exactly a plethora of demonic entities living in tasteful estates, now are they?" Remus reconsidered his answer. "Well, at least that was true for the first decade or so, but I'll get to that." He turned back to the board, drawing a star-shaped particle that grew and expanded. "Through this wait, the piece of the demon stays inside this person. Usually, this isn't a problem. A hound shows up, sees it's not actually a demon, but a kill order, disposes of the person, and is on its merry way. Except this little shard of darkness grew in her until she reached her age of magical maturity; in a body that was not its own, with a magic that was not dark or underworld-ly. It's sort of the demon fragment's way of trying to get out of a host that doesn't suit it, by transforming it. That's why she didn't change until her birthday."

"So, what you're saying is we're sitting ducks waiting for a demon dog to rip her to shreds? Is this your grand discovery?" James interrupted, pinching the bridge of his nose as if he was being assaulted by a powerful headache, his glasses perched up on the top of his head.

"Except," Lily raised her voice in the relative quietness that had overcome the room as Remus tried to broach the next subject, "she's already met a hell-hound."

James lowered his hand fractionally to look over at his girlfriend. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, Gabriela met a hell-hound when she was eleven. A small, gangly, curly-haired hell-beast," she replied, her face lighting up in a smile. The three others slowly shifted their gaze from the redhead with the cocky smile towards the lanky, long-limbed man at the chalkboard. "Werewolves are hell-hound souls and human souls crammed into one vessel. The curse works sort of like the tracking spell inside of Gabby, except it's milder, as these hounds have learned to co-exist with their human counterpart."

"So, we're sitting ducks for Mister Moony to kill Gabby?" James corrected, even more horrified by the prospect than he had been a few minutes prior.

Remus smiled at his friend's use of the werewolf distinction of his nickname, just as Gabriela did when referring to his other half. "No one's killing anyone, Prongs." He leant back against the board, crossing his arms over his chest, getting chalk all over the sleeves of his robes, but not paying any mind to the mess. "The problem's always been that werewolves make bad hell-hounds. Their human counterpart taints the instinct to follow orders and kill. Where hell-hounds are forever loyal to their demon, werewolves are especially susceptible to switching sides, depending on their other half's judgement and just a shotgun evaluation of the new master."

"Moony loves Gabby." Sirius quipped.

"Moony _does_ love Gabby, the mangy mongrel," Remus commented, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

"So… no one is coming to kill Gabby?" James asked, as if everyone was just glossing over the most obvious point at the moment.

"No hounds will come to harm her, but I'm afraid it's the tracking curse that's the issue. That's where I got stuck." He said with a dejected sigh, his eyes falling to the floor as he pondered. "Curse-killing curse. I have not read anything of a curse-killing curse." They fell silent once more, their minds wracking through chapters upon chapters of accrued knowledge about magic lost to the times.

"Oh, oh oh! Oh. _Oh, no_." Everyone turned to watch Peter go through several stages of falling excitement, his blond brow now furrowing deeply as he debated whether or not to share his thoughts.

"What is it, Pete?" Remus asked, kicking away from the wall and walking around the decrepit desk towards him.

"Maybe it's not a curse-killing curse, but a curse killing another curse. A stronger curse nullifying the last."

Remus pondered this, his face making an expression as if he thought it was a plausible enough idea. "Sure. What kind of curse could possibly nullify a demonic tracer, though?" The boys and Lily looked at each other, sharing a concerned expression amongst them before returning their eyes to Remus. There was a glimmer of sadness in their countenance, and it wasn't until Remus connected the dots that he understood why. He raised his index finger, pointing at his friends in a way that suggested that the idea was a non-starter. "No. _Absolutely_ fucking not."

"Remus, before you get all pissy—" Sirius began, but was interrupted before he could make a point. He should have known that warning Remus not to get pissy was, now and forever, a moot point.

"Are you _insane_? We don't know if this will actually break the tracking curse, I _will definitely_ be arrested, and I could kill her in the process." He countered, heatedly, enumerating the reasons with his fingers as he angrily contested.

"Mate," Sirius started gently, stomping down his urge to call him an idiot and proceed with the plan. "You heard what Poppy told her dad. Stasis is not a permanent solution, and it's not even working that well right now." Remus could detect the crack in his voice as he talked about her situation. They had all been there when the nurse talked to Gabby's father, and they had all stayed with him as he sat, distraught, at her bedside trying to figure out where he had gone wrong as a parent. Sirius, a notably strong personality, had sat down with her father and they had both cried at her bedside until they felt better. "She's dying, anyway. Pretty soon, by the look of it. Next moon is in two weeks. This may be our last chance to help her."

"I don't know if I could live with myself if I turn her," Remus replied, his voice barely above a whisper. A single tear was running down his cheek, unhindered.

"Are you kidding? She'll think every month is _Christmas_ , the adorable freak." Sirius smiled, although his heart wasn't into it, knowing that this was probably the toughest decision of his friend's life. Most other students were trying to decide what they wanted to do with the rest of their life, not whether they thought it advisable to possibly pass on a painful, life-altering curse. "Let's face it, Remus. Gabs is smarter than all of us put together. If this is what she meant for you to find, she'd want you to do it."

Remus nodded, looking away from Sirius to the rest of his friends. "What do you lot think?"

"Accidental killing, with chance of survival or watching your friend slowly waste away as the world passes her by?" He seemed to consider the point, before adding, deadpan. "Bite her, Moony. Bite her good." James opined, shrugging.

"As a general rule, I don't go against Gabriela's suggestions," Peter added, resolute.

"Lily?"

Lily shrugged, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. "If we had more time, we could go back and forth, but sometimes shoving a bezoar down someone's throat and hoping they don't choke is better than wasting time making an antidote." The redhead was drumming her fingers against the dusty surface of the table in a nervous fidget. "The more important question is, how do we sneak her out of the infirmary without tripping Madame Pomfrey's wards?"

James turned to her, flabbergasted. "Sneak out? Wards?"

"Well, we certainly can't suggest this as a treatment to the teachers. They'll veto it the second it leaves ruggedly handsome Remus' lips." She exclaimed, gesturing at Remus and rolling her eyes. "So, yeah, we need to sneak her out and into the shack before Remus transforms." She finished as if it were the most obvious suggestion in the world.

James scrambled out of his chair and got on one knee in front of the girl. "Lily Evans, will you marry me?"

"Yeah, sure, but I think we have more pressing matters at the moment, James." She batted his hands away and pulling out some parchment and a quill from her bag to start drafting a plan. "Now, I have a few ideas…"


	14. Reluctance

The advantage of having the moon on a weekend, meant that they could spend their day shuttling supplies back and forth from the castle to the grounds and no one suspected anything. They were a little under a month and a half away from their final examinations, and they had gotten little to no studying time in, unless you count their knowledge of minor demons and the practical uses of brimstone. The Shrieking Shack had been meticulously prepared, and Lily, an aspiring Healer, had prepped James and Sirius on everything they needed to do once Moony had bitten Gabby. It was going to be a hard to watch affair, she had warned, and they were probably going to regret their decision a couple of hundred times during the night. The important part was that they had to continuously watch the wound, make sure it was clean and make sure to keep all her vital signs normal until it was safe for her to enter the Shack in the morning. They had nodded, a little out of their depth, but vowed to keep Gabriela safe until the fall of the moon.

Remus had spent little time preparing. He didn't really want to think about their friend's ludicrous venture of sneaking her out of her bed, and into the shack so he could, in short, attack her. That, coupled with Sirius' plan of _the less you know, the more you can deny_ had left him relatively in the dark about how the front end of the operation was going to unfold. Instead, he sat at her bedside, watching the tattoo in the crook of her elbow move with the moon. She really did look like she was on the decline. Her eyes were circled in black rings, her skin was pasty and sunken. He had brushed her hair earlier that morning, trying to rid it of the knots and tangles it had acquired from when she was moved to other beds, and even that wasn't its usual silky texture. _She wouldn't want to live like this_ , he thought. Not when she had always been such a pistol.

"Mister Lupin," the nurse's voice startled him from his thoughts and he looked up at her with a watery smile. "Isn't about time you got to wherever you need to be?"

"Yeah, I…er… wanted to spend a few more minutes with her. Makes me feel better, you know." The nurse smiled sympathetically, allowing him an extra minute before tutting him off and locking the doors to the infirmary, not knowing that Sirius, with Peter as Wormtail in his shirt pocket, were hiding under James' invisibility cloak, ready to steal her patient away.

When Sirius and Peter shuffled into the trapdoor of the Shrieking Shack the moon was already high in the sky. They hoped that the werewolf had learned enough manners not to immediately attack them in their human forms when they sauntered in. He had been very good in previous moons, allowing them to move about the cottage as humans without too much grief, but now that they were carrying in someone he loved, they weren't so sure of his reaction. The pair yelped when something came in their direction as soon as the hatch opened, thankful that it was just the old quaffle that they tossed around to play, and that the wolf was patiently waiting a few metres away, on the floor, all fours splayed out beside him.

"Hey, Moony. We brought you someone, alright?" Sirius pulled himself up the hatch, reaching down to where Peter was handing him Gabriela's frail body, looking more like ragdoll than human. "She's very sick so I need you to be extra gentle, OK?" He approached, somewhat reluctantly, towards the wolf, noting, much to his relief, that he made no noise or intention to move when he encroached on his personal space.

Sirius placed Gabriela down, watching as the ever-curious beast crawled forward on his belly and pushed her hand with his muzzle, fully intending to get a pat from the girl. He whined when she didn't move. James, turning back from his stag form, took a seat near the pair, trying to look as submissive as he possibly could to avoid the wolf's temper. "Moony, we need you to help her. She's very sick, and the only way for her to get better is… is for you… to bite her." The wolf looked confused, his ears pulled back in stress. He was pretty sure bite was one of the few things this particular human had told him _not_ to do. He wasn't intending on disobeying her now. "We wouldn't be asking if it weren't _really_ important! When have we ever lied to you?" The wolf harrumphed in a sassy fashion, turning his head away from them, focusing solely on the tips of Gabby's fingers and nudging them with his head. "Oh, come on! We only just convinced the other you to do this. Don't tell me we have to deal with you, too," he exclaimed, frustrated.

"What if we wake her?" Sirius suggested, to which James looked dangerously close to an aneurysm. "Look, we've wasted a lot of moonlight. We need this done quickly, and the only person convincing _that_ wolf to break the rules, it is the person _who made_ the rules."

James debated the harm of pulling her out of stasis, if they succeeded, finding that it was better than the alternative—failing at their quest. He took his wand out of his pocket, waving intricate patterns above her and muttered, " _Reanimatum_."

Gabriela blinked awake, though her body was shaking, as if she was still in severe pain. She took in her surroundings, noticing that she was in the Shack. "Did you do it? Did he bite me?"

"Er… no, we're having a shy performer," Sirius replied, pointing at Moony, who though was still looking in an opposite direction, had perked up his ears and was looking at his friend out of the corner of his eye.

"Hey, love. C'mere. It's alright." She whispered, softly, watching as the wolf turned its head towards her and with a strangled whine pressed his face against hers. "I know, I know. It's confusing. Mister Moony, I really need your help. I know I told you it was naughty, but I am specifically asking for it. I give you permission, and I promise I will not be cross with you and I promise that nothing bad is going to happen, OK?" She doubled over on her side, pain wracking her body and making it arch involuntarily. "I don't mean to rush you, but I might need it sooner than later." Her nails left trails on the wooden floorboards as she tried to deflect the pain. Moony howled, his ears pulled back once more as he seemingly debated the consequences of his actions.

"I swear to fucking Merlin, Remus, you either help him make a goddamn decision or I will personally make you responsible when she dies!" James screamed, red in the face, startling the wolf, though there was a flash of amber in the beast's eyes as he shuffled backwards. The wolf sighed, huffing a great breath preparing himself to move. With great care, he pushed the top of the hospital gown away from her skin, though to little avail. James, moved, careful not to incite an attack on himself, and stared the beast straight in the eyes when he muttered, "Let me help you."

With shaking fingers, he loosened the knot at the neck of the gown and pulled it down past her shoulders. For the first time the friends looked at the angry red skin surrounding the base of her wings, as if she had an eternal third degree burn on her shoulder blades. The bases jutted out, a bit like a bat's wing, before it finished in the thousands of inky black feathers that, rather than being soft and flexible, like down, were sharp and coarse. The beast's maw opened and seemingly swallowed up the small girl's shoulder, and he whined in the position, not wanting to bite down and let teeth pierce flesh. Gabriela raised her hand and brushed the fur on his neck in an affectionate manner, quietly assuring him that everything was going to be fine. In one movement, his jaw locked, Gabriela screamed, and the atmosphere in the room tensed considerably.

Almost as soon as he had done it, Moony had let go of her shoulder as if a shock had coursed through his body. He licked the wounds with great care, all the while whining miserably, and trying to placate the shrieks of pain coming from his friend. Sirius moved forward, not thinking for a second of the animal's protective stance when he went to scoop her up. "I _need_ to take her!" He hissed, in an aggressive voice, one that made the wolf back up considerably, before he took Gabby into the bedroom where the makeshift hospital was set up, James close behind.

"This isn't bad. You did great," Peter said, meekly, as the great wolf stared dejectedly at the room. "I know it doesn't _sound_ brilliant, but I assure you, she's going to be fine." Just as he said this, Gabriela's screams intensified, filling the shack with the haunting sounds of a woman being tortured by her own body. With a quick flick of his wand, he conjured a pair of earmuffs and gently placed them on the wolf's head. "There you go. You don't need to hear that, do you?"

James' hands were nimble with the bandages, while Sirius was particularly gifted in mixing the cleansing potions required to sterilize the area. In seconds, they had the whole wound cleaned and covered, although the real pain came from the werewolf's curse coursing through her veins. At this point, Gabby was sobbing, her chest not getting enough air before the next cry racked through her body with a vengeance. Sirius had noted, however, that the circles around her eyes were lightening, and there was color in her cheeks. Whether that be because of the constant screaming or something positive happening, he didn't know. However, any further assessment was cut short, when a flash of blinding light, and a boom, knocked them both a good ten feet outside of the room, crashing onto the hardwood floor.

The two groaned. Sirius was sure that he had a broken rib, and James was quite certain he had broken his nose in the crash. Peter, alarmed, scrambled to his feet into the bedroom. A blast like that was not good news for their resident Ravenclaw. When he peered into the room, it looked no different than when Moony had a go it, disheveled, several parts broken, although it was a bit more singed than usual. He paced nervously towards the figure lying in bed, quiet and still. He was relieved when he saw that she was breathing, though she was covered in soot and grime. Moony sidled up to him, earmuffs still in place to assess the damage. Braver than he, the werewolf hopped onto the bed, nudging the girl with his muzzle gently. One particular movement shifted one of her wings, the feathers falling and becoming nothing more than ash on the bedspread. Now desperate, the wolf began pushing and shoving at his friend, watching as the wings withered to nothing more than dust, though angry red marks remained on her back.

He whined at Peter, willing him to do something. "She's OK, Mister Moony. Let's let her rest and check on the lads."

Near the dawn, the werewolf had slipped back into the bedroom after the boys had fallen asleep. They had mended themselves as best they could and waited for Lily to arrive in the morning to continue their treatment. With gentle movements he burrowed himself against her, giving her nose a solitary lick before he felt the pangs of morning calling him back to slumber. The jerking and screaming woke Gabriela, as it had all those months before. She watched through heavy eyelids as the wolf turned into man, tears springing in her eyes at his pain. When she laid a gentle hand on him, she was sure that he smiled a wolfish grin.

Remus panted, face down on the bed, pushing himself up with all his might, surprised to see green eyes staring back at him. A choked sob got caught in his chest, and immediately shuffled towards her, pulling her into his arms and mumbling incoherent thoughts into her ear. "You did it," she whispered, her voice nearly gone from all the screaming. "I saw it. It was you who did it. You spared him the decision."

"Let the mutt retain whatever innocence he has." He whispered back, pressing his forehead against hers. His fingers carded through the dark locks of hair, surprised tinting his expression when they came back with soot, revealing light brown tresses beneath. With a chuckle, he shook out her hair, watching at the dark dust fell, sullying the rest of the sheets and making them both cough.

Quick steps interrupted them, Lily bursting into the room only to yelp and turn around with a groan. "Jesus, almighty! Remus, put on some damn trousers. I swear," she chided, seemingly unbothered by the unkempt state of the rest of the shack.

"Sorry, Lily. Too distracted by a girlfriend with a pulse. I do apologize," he commented sarcastically, pressing a kiss to Gabby's lips and giving her an exasperated look before grabbing the pile of clothes on the chair (though covered in ash) and went outside to pull them on.

"Good morning, doll. How are you feeling?" The redhead asked, ignoring Remus' sassy retort.

"Like a very large wall fell on me." She replied, letting Lily look at James and Sirius' handiwork on her shoulder.

"The wound looks exceptionally great. Which is… odd. Because it's a _cursed bite_." Her face darkened in a frown at the unexpected result.

Gabby grinned to the best of her capacity. "Not actually turned, I'm afraid. Can you imagine Remus' little face if it turned out he made me into a werewolf? It'd be heartbreaking."

"You were awake for six hours! How did you run through so much information!?" Lily was truly alarmed how the girl could have concocted such an excellent plan and perfectly execute it, having left only breadcrumbs to follow.

"I'm a fast reader." She shrugged. "I also know a _looot_ about werewolves." With wide eyes, Gabby froze, her mouth gaping open at the vision over Lily's shoulder. "Oh, no."

"Oh, _yes_." An irate Minerva McGonagall was standing in the threshold of the bedroom, Sirius, James, Peter and Remus in a close tow.


	15. Dumb Luck

"You could have been all _killed_! This cockamamie plan has so many holes you could pass it for Swiss cheese! I would like to know what on Earth possessed you to think that this was an alternative to be tried _without_ consulting any adults or putting any safeguards in place. _NOW!_ " The vein in McGonagall's forehead was pulsing so strongly that the group was afraid she would have a bleed in her brain by the time this lecture was over. Albus Dumbledore stood in the corner of Professor McGonagall's office, watching as the students, covered in soot, looking a little worse for wear, struggled to find an appropriate excuse for their actions.

"Would it help if I said it was all my idea?" Gabby asked, meekly, trying as hard as possible to shrink in her seat away from the fuming professor.

"Considering you've been unconscious a considerable amount of time, it would not!"

"Professor, if we had presented the idea, how likely was it that we would get permission to do so?" Lily asked, crossing her arms and adopting a stony expression. "We both know that it would be debated in the school, taken the Ministry and a whopping six months later they would deny the claim, by which time, Gabby would be _dead_. Now, would you have a dead student, or a few live ones that managed an amazing feat through sheer dumb luck?"

"And look at this!" Gabby interjected, happily snapping her fingers, and a rubbish bin nearby caught flame. Sirius and James immediately burst out laughing, watching the girl scramble in surprise. "Oh, _sh_ — _fu_ —frack. I can still do that!" She snapped them again, and the fire extinguished itself. "Um… at least I don't have wings?" She offered; an apologetic smile forced itself on her face.

"Miss Lively," the teacher started, but could not find the strength to complete the statement when the girl was so excited and proud. "You all have detention, polishing the trophies. No magic. A _week_." They all looked at each other. That wasn't actually _that_ bad, but they refrained from voicing their opinion, in case the professor decided her leniency was being taken for granted.

"What you six did was extremely foolish and dangerous. I know you all know the consequences of your actions. I could have all of you expelled by the end of the day but seeing as your N.E.W.T.s will provide more than enough punishment, I will reserve the expulsions and simply write all of your parents letters. I think they _all_ deserve to know…," the students held on to the edge of their seats as Dumbledore did one of his famous tense pauses, "… what wonderful wizards and friends you have grown into. You should all be proud."

" _Albus!_ " McGonagall started, her face turning a violent shade of maroon.

The group had been excused from classes until midweek. This time, it wasn't because emotions were running high and the professors expected them all to burst into tears half-way through lecture, but because McGonagall didn't want them, quote "infecting the other students with your idiocy." She honestly _did_ love them, but they were sometimes extremely hard to love. They had all piled into the infirmary for Madame Pomfrey to repair whatever damage had been caused the night before and give Gabby a thorough examination, the nurse exclaiming that the remainder of the group were banned from the wing until further notice.

When Gabriela reached the seventh-year boy's dorm a while later, considerably in better shape after a check-up, some potions and a bath, but out of breath from lack of exercise the last few weeks, the room was quiet, save for the sound of snores. Grabbing the pillow from the chair in the corner, she whacked at Peter, who immediately turned over and stopped his snoring. With a smile, she returned the object to its rightful place and tip-toed through the darkened room. Reaching Remus' bed, she couldn't help but smile at the boy, who had clearly tried to stay awake by reading, clutching a book to his chest as if his life depended on it. His curls all lay in uncontrollable directions, all freshly coiled after his shower, partially obscuring his face. He had, she noted, what looked like very small, very light scratches around his nose. She quietly wondered if they were from him trying to nudge her and getting caught in her barbed wings.

Gently, as to not to disturb him, she clambered into bed, a soft sigh escaping him as she slowly pried the book from his hands and adjusted her position until she was flush against his body.

"I've got a girlfriend, y'know," he murmured in a gravelly voice, and though his face remained neutral, as if asleep, the corner of his mouth was actively fighting against curling upwards.

"Do you, now?" She replied, in kind.

He opened one eye to look down her, before forcing the other open, as well. "Yeah, tiny thing, dark hair, green eyes, massive pair of—" he ignored the warning look she was now casting in his direction, "wings."

"Oh, well. I'll just be on my merry way, then." She made an effort to shuffle out, which was quickly thwarted by his arms wrapping around her waist.

"Don't you fucking dare!" The sound of her giggling was muffled by Remus' lips crashing into hers, his intensity reducing to affectionate pecks a few seconds later. He was trying hard not to crush her to death with a hug, and the effort showed as his muscles tensed and blocked him every time he wanted to hug her just a _little_ tighter. "Could you do me a favor and try _not_ to die, ever again?"

She laughed, rolling her eyes. "I didn't do it on purpose!"

"I'm going _grey_! I'm eighteen and I'm going grey," he argued, voice still nothing but a low whisper.

Gabby snorted. "Come on, Remus. We both know you've been going grey since fifth year."

He gasped, a look of mock hurt on his face. "You said it made me look intellectual!"

"No, _I_ said it made you look like a _teacher_. There's a difference." Before he could argue about the differences, she was kissing him; gentle, slow, a little terrified. It was pretty much everything she was feeling. He sighed when she pulled back, her fingers reaching up to trace the small webbed scars around his nose.

He pressed his forehead to hears, a noise akin to a purr escaping him as he tried to kill the distance between them. "You haven't complained about it."

"About what?" He let go of her briefly to tap at his own temple. "Oh. I don't mind it, anymore. While I was asleep, it reminded me that there were plenty of people there for me."

"It's a beautiful sentiment, but could you both, please, shut the _fuck_ up?" Sirius whisper-shouted across the room, throwing one of his pillows in their general direction. "We get it. You're in love, you're alive, life is wonderful. We haven't slept proper for a month." Stifling their laughter, the pair settled back in bed, trying to make as little noise as possible, finding that it was easier to drift off to sleep than they had thought.

* * *

"How did you like question eleven, Moony?" Sirius asked as they shuffled out of the classroom where they were taking their Defense Against the Dark Arts N.E.W.T. He had jogged up to where Remus and Gabby had been quietly discussed exam questions and threw an arm over either of their shoulders.

The blond rolled his eyes, goodnaturedly. "It's like they're trying to be clever," he muttered. They had had a spectacular repeat question about how to identify a werewolf.

"I always get it wrong. I got the snout, the tufted tail, the eyes, but—" Peter argued, his eyebrows pinched together in frustration.

"How the hell do you still a problem with this, Pete? You've literally been around one every month for the last two years!" Sirius moaned. It really was helpless at this point. "Did you notice there was an inordinate amount of questions about dark magic? Like, demonic magic, or was it just me?"

"Like I said, trying to be clever." Remus smiled at James and Lily, who had just joined their group, the latter two feverishly discussing exam questions, as if the world would end if they didn't go over the entirety of the material right now. "I honestly just can't believe we're done. I feel like this whole term has been a blur."

"Having a friend almost die tends to do that, Moony," Peter replied with a smirk, ignoring the narrowed eyes Gabriela was giving him. The tiny witch was barely holding herself straight, and that was in part due to Sirius who had put an arm around her waist when he felt her teeter under the weight of said arm over her shoulders. In preparation for these final examinations, they had all tried to make up for the time they missed by skipping meals and sleep. All in all, the squad looked like they were either severely ill or one of the undead. But, they had all aced their tests.

"I apologize for attempting to zest up your dull life, Gryffindors." Gabby replied, earning her a little jab under the ribs from James, megawatt smile beaming at his friends. They immediately got into an argument about the superiority of houses, like the children they were. It was with a chuckle that Remus managed to part the five foot nothing Ravenclaw from James' back, where she had clambered in their argument in an attempt to wrestle him to the floor.

"How about you make good on your promise of allowing me to see daylight before the decade is over?" Remus sassed, placing a hand on the small of her back and gently leading her outside, the pair waving over their shoulders at their grinning friends.

The pair tossed their bags onto the grass beside the lake before plopping onto a particularly soft-looking patch. Gabriela immediately sank bank, her light hair spilling out in a wide halo around her, getting caught in the blades and wildflowers, meanwhile Remus sat, cross-legged, pulling dandelions from the ground. "Hey, Remus?" She asked, after a few minutes of comfortable silence. He hummed back in answer, his gaze still uncharacteristically intent on the dandelions. "You know how I wanted to be a Magriculturalist?" She saw him nod, thoughtfully. "I don't know if I want to be that, anymore," she whispered. Lucky for both of them, they had taken most every class available at N.E.W.T. level; Gabby because she was prone to changes in career choice; Remus, because he was unsure what career would take him.

The boy finally looked away from the ripped-up weeds, turning to look at his girlfriend with a small smile. "What do you want to be now?" He leaned back, using an arm for leverage as the other casually hung by a thumb from his pocket.

She shrugged, her green eyes sparkling in excitement. "I don't know, but maybe a curse-breaker. I seem to remember I am rather good." She sighed. "I'm not sure, though. I'll just have to figure it out, I guess."

There was a flash of unknown emotion in his face and Gabby found that he was now blushing a furious shade of red. "Want to figure it out together?"

She laughed, sitting up to face him. "Of course, I do, you twat."

Remus dug in his pocket, pulling out a simple gold band with a dark stone in the middle. "No, I mean _do you want to figure it out together?_ Forever."

She rolled her eyes, still laughing. "Of course, I do, you twat."

A few minutes passed by, Remus' face was registering several different stages of shock, and Gabriela was patiently waiting for him to reach a conclusion any time soon. The young woman saw him sigh, nodding his head thoughtfully. " _You already found this, didn't you_?" He asked, bemused smile stretching the corners of his mouth.

"Sock drawer. Pair of green reindeer socks. I was cold and they looked nice," she said, matter-of-factly, garnering a sudden interest in her nails. When he didn't say anything further, she shuffled through the grass on her knees, slipping into his lap with a smile. "This is the part you tell me you're madly in love with me and want me to marry you and live in a cottage in the woods where Mister Moony can run free with his friends on the moon." She had put her arms around his neck, pulling him in for a brief kiss. "More importantly, this is the part I tell you I've wanted to marry you since first year when you almost had a fit because I found you out."

He chuckled nervously. "So, is that a yes?"

"Obviously," she replied, rolling her eyes, but nevertheless letting him slip the ring on her finger before kissing her soundly.


	16. Non-Starter

The cabin was cozy, full of plants and natural sunlight streaming in through the windows. On the stove a pot stirred itself as a stew bubbled, perfect for fighting off the winter chill. Gabriela Lively hovered around the room like a bumblebee: check this box, inspect that amulet, throw this herb into the stew, fish out the flubberworm she accidentally added when aiming to the cauldron of pain relief potion beside it. It had turned out that being a curse breaker had been a good career choice. She mostly dealt with artifacts, meaning she could do most of the work from home, where she could indulge in her hobbies as she waited for her husband to come home from missions with the Order.

At first, she was reluctant to let Remus step into the line of fire against the Death Eaters. They were merciless people, tracking anything and everything they thought might be useful to their cause, gutting it for their magic, and moving on to their next victim. She already had several friends die by their hand. Cooperating with the Order meant Remus and she were close to the top of the list, although she had been on it far before they had even heard of the Order of the Phoenix. Remus insisted it was for the greater good, and to keep an eye on his friends, and she agreed, although a little offended that Dumbledore had not invited her as well.

The sound of scuffling roused her from her reverie. Pulling her wand out from its place, sticking out from her messy bun, she quietly skulked out to the living room, only to find Remus wrestling Dolohov, a Slytherin who had been a few years older than them, to the ground. She shot a stunning spell that missed Dolohov by a fraction of an inch but gave Remus the opportunity to pin him down. He stuck his wand to his throat and growled a low threat at him through gritted teeth. "Love, they're looking for you! _Run_ ," he called over his shoulder, tying the man down.

"I'm not leaving y—" Her sentence was cut short, causing Remus to look back up, only to see two figures, both in masks, and one with what looked like a cursed blade, if the handle was any indication, shoved into Gabby's torso. With a sick twist, a black glowing light left her body and went into the steel of the blade. Remus was frozen in place, and it wasn't until her body fell and the three had Apparated away, that he registered just exactly what had happened.

Remus would have loved to say that he did not know when the last time he had cried so much had been. Unfortunately, he could pinpoint the day, time, and location of it. It was actually just a floor up, a few hallways down and year and some change since that had happened. Dumbledore's office offered no comfort, as portraits of former headmasters looked down, giving him their condolences on his loss. It was the middle of the night, it had been only a few minutes since the Healers at St. Mungo's had declared that Gabby would not be returning home. He sniffled once more. Sirius, half-asleep, having been pulled out of bed the second he had heard, put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. James and Lily, still in their pajamas, were also in the room with him. Peter was nowhere to be found, though, he thought it best. Peter adored Gabby, and it would be better to break the news gently.

"Remus, I am so sorry that this has happened. I assure you, the Ministry is looking for the Death Eaters in question as we speak." Dumbledore said gently, trying to assure the werewolf as he shook in his seat.

The real reason James, Lily and Sirius were here was because, in his grief, Mister Moony had unleashed himself from his slumber and there was suddenly a full-grown werewolf raging in the hospital without a full moon. It had taken his friends to calm him down enough to change back. It was a million times more painful to transform without the moon, but it was pain he was willing to endure if it erased the thought that he wasn't going to see her again.

"Do you think I fucking care about those wankers? I was ready to go hunting a few minutes ago, and you lot stopped me. I don't want them found, I want them annihilated." His curls were tussled in all directions, his face was red from screaming and there were severe cuts in his skin from the impromptu transformation. He looked as welcoming as death.

"Remus," the older wizard started, but was quickly cut off.

"My wife is _DEAD_! Our _friend_ is dead! She was killed for the broken remnants of a curse that I heard them say wouldn't be strong enough to do anything with." He screamed, jumping out of the chair he had been in, and pushing it aside. "I asked you if I needed to find a Secret Keeper in case they were still looking for her. _I ASKED YOU_! You insisted it was f _ine_." He sobbed, roughly wiping away tears, and leaning against a wall, head bowed.

"I did not think it necessary, at the moment. Clearly, I was mistaken." He replied, his hands resting on his desk, fingers steepled as he thought. "However, now that we know that they have the curse, we can find them. We can make it right, Remus."

Remus tilted his head minimally, his eyes looking up through his lashes in a dark visage. "We can track the curse? We can… we can track the…" He laughed, mirthlessly, a darkness within him rising with a flash of green eyes. "I am going to ask you this once, Dumbledore, and you better hope you have a good answer because I am liable to murder you if you don't… It was never in your plans to have her survive, was it? Either in school or after, you knew she was going to be found and killed. _That_ is why you let a group of _school children_ find a counter curse." He looked around the room. Sirius, James and Lily were staring at the pair, mouths agape, hoping that what they were hearing wasn't true.

The headmaster leaned back in his chair, his face passive, as ever. "If you are insinuating that I _wanted_ her to die, you are mistaken, Remus."

"That wasn't what I asked, Headmaster." He stomped his way to the desk, slamming his palms upon the smooth surface, making objects clatter. Remus' lip was quivering as he stared the man down. "I was in love with that girl since we were eleven. I defended her, I fought for her, I broke severe laws to save her, and you had no intention in keeping her alive. Because, _greater good_ , innit? One life compared to thousands." He slammed a closed fist on the desk, several metal scales falling off the desk in a racket. "She was pregnant! That was my wife _and child_ you sacrificed."

"What?" Lily asked in a small voice, reaching for her own baby bump. Tears were falling freely down her face. His two friends now sported wild looks, trying to digest the information.

"She was pregnant. We didn't tell anyone because we didn't know what would happen with the remaining dark magic and all. We didn't want to… _jinx it_." A fresh wave of tears wet his face, and Sirius forcefully dragged him over to a chair, though his own face was wet and blotchy. "We were going to have a little girl."

Sirius cleared his throat. There was a knot in his throat at the thought he had just lost one of his oldest friends, that his best mate lost his lover and child, and that the neither side of this was war was clear in its intentions. "Albus, please tell me these are the ramblings of a grief-stricken man."

The ancient wizard smiled sadly. "You have already made your choice, Sirius. I do not intend to debate you on it." He sighed, turning to the Potters, who were horrified into silence, James taking a protective stance over Lily. "I suggest you all find a safe place to reside. It is clear Voldemort and his followers will stop at nothing for their cause.

Remus pulled Sirius back roughly, when he appeared to take a lunge at the professor, rage tinted in his features. "Leave it. I have funeral arrangements to make. Please don't let me do them alone."

"Of course, mate. We'll all help." Sirius replied, through clenched teeth, nodding to James and Lily who nodded and voiced their acceptance. "Let's get you out of here, Moony." He helped his friend out of the chair and let him lead the way out of the office, his whole body numb to the world. Right before he was out the door, the Black heir turned around and stared gravely at the Headmaster. "I am done with you until further notice. That was my fucking friend, you wanker."

It was that night, as James and Lily made to follow Remus and Sirius, that Dumbledore convinced the Potters that Sirius was too enraged and Remus too grief-stricken to be their Secret Keepers. And we all know how that played out…

THE END.

((Author's Note: Thank you for reading this story! I hope you guys enjoyed this blast into my past as much as I did. Feel free to read and review and give it some love. Sorry about killing the joy at the end- young me did not appreciate happy endings. Until next time! Toodles!))


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